Initiation as an Operating System

Egregors--easy to build all by yourself, right? No.

The line to burn me at the stake for violating modern ideas about initiated traditions (Golden Dawn, many forms of Wicca, Thelema) will soon be forming. Why? Because I am willing to say things like this:

You need both--individual and group work--to fully understand and use the [initiated Golden Dawn] system as it was designed to work. This is how it was designed--it is not a bug; it is a feature. Initiation (in a group) is like installing the operating system of a computer. The members of the group itself is like the circuits in a computer. The individual work, rituals, and study, are the programs and the owner's manual...which work best if you have the proper operating system installed, along with the suggested hardware (aka you are not working alone), and the right settings (godforms). And lineage is the official "I did not pirate this software" seal and code which (in my "healed lineage" experience) can be paid for after the fact, and allows for software patches. You would not expect a single unplugged circuit board to be able to run computer programs, so why does everyone expect the rituals of Golden Dawn to work without the set-up that was designed into the system in the first place?

Lineage dost not make an elder

The other day, during my monthly Trump rage, while reminding people of the global Bind Trump ritual, I was called out onto the mat by one of occultism’s self-proclaimed Big Names, who declared that people like myself were destroying the work of decades by Wiccan Elders to convince Christians that Wiccans are not Satanists. Needless to say, I did not take kindly to the lecture, especially given the implication that the lecturer considers themselves a Wiccan Elder—the fact that they called me Forest Gump didn’t endear me to them either.

What makes this person a Wiccan Elder? Is it their long experience with Wicca? No, I would not call seven years of experience worthy of the label of Elder. No, what makes this person believe that they are a Wiccan Elder, and a leader of the Craft is the simple fact that they were initiated by someone who was initiated directly by Alex and Maxine Sanders, the founders of Alexandrian Wicca. Likewise, this Big Name is now referring to his wife as “Witch Queen.” Again, the only justification is that they claim a superior lineage to the rabble, a claim of initiation that some Alexandrians doubt happened.

In my case, I do believe that an initiation did happen. But I believe that it was the old game of “I will give you a degree, if you give me one.” In this case, it appears that a Golden Dawn initiation (an Inner Order one) was given for a Wiccan initiation. It should be noted that I actually doubt that they are just two steps away from the Sanders. Nevertheless, even if they are telling the truth, I do not believe that they deserve the respect they are demanding from others.

This is not the first time that they have played the superior lineage card. For years, this Big Name has claimed to be the best leader in Golden Dawn, for his contact with the Secret Chiefs of the tradition—uber-humans who only he is enlightened enough to be in contact with. And seven years ago, they claimed contact with a uber-secret branch of Italian witchcraft. Two years ago, they received their uber-special Alexandrian initiation.

They are not the only ones who try to play the superior lineage card. One cannot throw a stone without hitting someone who has been personally picked by the gods to lead mankind to a glorious new age, or a witch who is descended from the many witches who were burned in Salem. Mankind is awash with people with better lineages, better contacts, superior wisdom, and better personalities than the rest of us, the unwashed rabble who should fall behind them in adoration.

Unfortunately, the esoteric world has far too many people like myself, who could care less about your superior bloodline, your superior lineage, and you having been kissed by the gods.

No, my Elders are those who have served for years without having to trot out a superior lineage. Morning Glory, former owner of Herbs and Arts, who provided a place for witches to meet and hold classes, she is an Elder in my book. Cassandra Ravenwolf, who taught herb classes, answered my silly questions, and provided a place for the community to meet, she is an Elder in my book. Alia Deny, who has helped introduce many people to the community, with decades of service under her belt, she is an Elder in my book. My Elders have served for decades, and have never asked me to automatically give them respect just because their lineages were better than mine.

And while I will never be an Elder, despite having written about Wicca and witchcraft for twenty-five years, I refuse to respect someone whose only claim to being an Elder is that they have a better lineage than I do. (The exact reason why I am automatically disqualified for Elder status is that no one realizes exactly how long I have been involved in the community, how old I really am, and most importantly, I keep saying things that no proper Elder would dream of saying—the community has voted, and I am exempt from all such duties, thanks to the filthy words that keep coming out of my mouth.) No, only actual service to the community, and acknowledgement by the community that you are doing good work, counts towards being an Elder in my book.

So those people who believe that I should kiss the hem of their robe, due to their uber-specialness, can go wash their heads in a bucket while I continue to be (as this great leader said) the Forest Gump of occultism. After all, I know my place in the scheme of things—I am here to annoy those who seek to be Elders without possessing any actual merit, and expect instant elevation to chief wombat. It is not a nice job, but someone has to do it.

[Author’s note: This column was started previous to the death of Alia, president of the Hearthstone Community Church; she will be missed by all of us in the community that knew and loved her.]

International Talk Like A Pirate Day

Pirate Kitty would like some rum cooked shrimp for his dinner.

Hi everyone! Today be September 19, and that means that it be International Talk Like A Pirate Day.

And let's be honest, everyone in Golden Dawn be a pirate. It be a long and noble tradition we have.

Don't believe me? Well, consider this.

Sometime before 1888, a mesterious man wrote down t' treaayes o' a secret lodge tradition in a document that we now call t' Cipher Manuscript. This was probably Kenneth MacKenzie. Some claim that this system was stolen from a previous system o' lodge initiation. Maybe even from Freemasons or t' evil SRIA. Therefore, MacKenzie be a pirate.

MacKenzie went t' Davy Jones' locker. Leavin' his widow with a pile o' papers that she did not want. Enter William Westcott, a man o' knowledge, and a conjuror of dead men ghosts.

Westcott convinces MacKenzie's bonnie lass that she should give him t' papers, because he belongs t' t' SRIA. T' Cipher Manuscript was not t' booty o' t' SRIA (accordin' t' some). Sad Widow gives up t' papers t' Westcott, a crime o' petty copyrites infrin'ement. Therefore, Westcott be a bigger pirate than MacKenzie.

Westcott then ropes a nice young man by t' name o' Samuel Mathers t' help recruit members t' work this awesome system o' spiritual advancement. Westcott also creates a set o' letters from a person who does not exist to shore up his claim t' t' treaaye. Mathers knows that t' letters be fake. Therefore, Mathers be a pirate.

Later, Mathers fights Westcott. T' prize? Complete control o' t' good Order o' t' Ancient Golden Dawn. Mathers does this by twirlin' a cutlas around while shoutin' that Westcott be a liar. Mathers sails t' France, gets involved in politics and bebuckos t' sinister Aleister Crowley. Mathers be even bigger pirate than Westcott.

Mathers t' keep his crew obeyin' his orders, then created a set o' invisible buckos who told him how wonderful he was, and how his students were t' pay him their last bit of gold. Mathers not only be big pirate, but a delusional creator o' tall tales and creepy ghost stories too.

Crowley a kind young man who fancied everythin' that moved includin' both your grandmother and grandfather, thought that this was bad behavior on t' part o' Mathers. So Crowley fought Mathers. T' prize? T' hearts and minds o' young men and beauties everywhere. And maybe their sex too. And their goats. Crowley shot at Mathers usin' a self-published set o' books, a new system o' attainment, and a boatful o' lawyers. Crowley also had invisible buckos, who told him that he was t' Messiah and t' best thin' since white bread. Crowley liked t' feed his followers t' demons and sharks. He also like t' be in t' newspapers very much. He reveled in his wickedness by writin' prose and poetry for young scallywags. Crowley be even bigger pirate than Mathers, and more drunk than a skunk to boot, but was very sexy.

In t' meantime, several other people started t' run businesses based on t' rituals and lessons o' t' Golden Dawn. Some o' them were con-beauties, and some were scurvy dogs. They all claimed t' gold o' t' seekers o' t' Golden Dawn. They were all pirates.

Then along came a nice Jewish lad by t' name o' Israel Regardie. He saw all t' pirates as dubious crew who should be made t' walk t' plank. He stole their rituals and lectures, hence robbin' them o' their hard-earned gold. He published as did t' wicked Crowley. This made many people upset with him. They claimed that he was a bigger pirate than they were.

Many students and seekers found t' writin's o' Crowley and Mathers and searched for t' treaaye o' Golden Dawn. Some o' them had lawyers and tame sharks and claimed t' be t' sole heirs o' Westcott, Mathers and Crowley. Others just dug a lot o' holes. Obviously, all o' these men and beauties were pirates also.

T' recap, six men sat on a dead man's chest and refused to share the loot. Six pirates, seven--counting you!

Pass the rum, and give another shrimp to the cat.

Happy International Talk Like A Pirate Day!

QoD Blavatsky on the responsibility of teachers and gurus

[Note: The following quote does not neccessarily reflect the opinions of Morgan Drake Eckstein or the BIORC.]

"[There] is one important fact which the student should be made acquainted. Namely, the emormous, almost limitless responsibility assumed by the teacher for the sake of the pupil. From the Gurus of the East who teach openly or secretly, down to the few Kabalists in the Western lands who undertake to teach the rudiments of the Sacred Science to their disciples--those western Hierophants being often themselves ignorant of the danger they incur--one and all of those 'Teachers' are subject to the same inviolable law. From the moment they begin really to teach, from the instant they confer any power--whether psychic, mental, or physical--on thier pupils, they take upon themselves all the sims of that pupil, in connection with the Occult Sciences, whether of omission or commission, until the moment when initiation makes the pupil a Master and responsible in his turn. There is a weird and mystic religious law, greatly reverenced and acted upon in the Greek, half-forgotten in the Roman-Catholic, and absolutely extinct in the Protestant Church. It dates from the earliest days of Christianity and has its basis in the law just stated, of which it was a symbol and an expression. This is the dogma of the absolute sacredness of the relation between the god-parents who stand sponsors for a child.* These tacitly take upon themselves all the sins of the newly baptized child--(anointed, as at the initiation, a mystery truly!)--until the day when the child becomes a responsible unit, knowing good and evil. Thus it is clear why the 'Teachers' are so reticent, and why 'Chelas' are required to serve a seven year probation to prove their fitness, and develop the qualities necessary to the security of both Master and pupil."

---H. P. Blavatsky, Practical Occultism (Important to Students)

*"So holy is the connection thus formed deemed in the Greek Church, that a marriage between god-parents of the same child is regarded as the worst kind of incest, is considered illegal, and is dissolved by law; and that absolute prohibition extends even to the children of one of the sponsors as regards to those of the other."

Good luck with your meat fight!



One of my favorite scenes from Dharma and Greg.

Ok, I have hit the point where I firmly suspect that I am going to be blacklisted because I refuse to see that Nick Farrell was only bad-mouthing one particular group that claims AO descent in the introduction to King Over the Water: Samuel Mathers and the Golden Dawn. Furthermore, I refuse to retract my good review of the book.

Let me be clear, I have personnally seen other groups doing this...aka in living memory and within the last decade. The trademark did not stop this from happening; it merely removed it from public view. Some of these leaders were bad. And just because your group is good today, it does not mean that it will be good tommorrow. Therefore, I see the need for the warning, and I have serious doubts that it was only referring to one particular group. And no, I do not believe that descent from the original Order, or communication with Secret Chiefs, automatically makes you good guys.

I am not interested in your proof that you are real and your leader pure---let me be clear---I have personnally been buried by people claiming descent from the AO; I have also been burned by people claiming to be communicating with the Secret Chiefs (Third Order). I do not need to see Farrell's proof that people have abused the vaccuum that a lack of information has generated---I have experienced the abuse first hand.

I may not only have a Crowley in my woodpile; I may also have a Mathers in my woodpile. I have been told that my lineage traces through Mathers. Of course, because I am not a member of the trademarked organization, therefore I am no longer AO.

When you demand that Farrell apologizes to everyone in the AO community, am I one of the people he is supposed to apologize to? No. Because I am not a card-carrying member of the trademarked Order.

Therefore, forgive me...and go ahead blacklist me...because I am just as AO as the rest of you (according to some of the people who I have dealt with) and I do not see the need for Farrell to apologize to me (because of abuse by people who claimed to be AO).

Good luck with your meat fight!

AoW Crowley in the Woodpile

A week ago (or was it two weeks ago?) I openly noted that I was kicking around the question of how one's lineage was affected by having a villian in your lineage. "Does having Aleister Crowley in your lineage make you less of an Adept?"

The reason that I started thinking about this question again (it is a periodic re-occurring question) was that I had encountered some blog posts about lineage that were arguing that you could not have an initiation higher than the person's initiating you; furthermore, Grades are actually a measure of spiritual development--and NOT magical development. Therefore, it is doubtful that a sinner could initiate someone into Neophyte even.

Now, this is always an interesting question for me...because if you believe the story that I was told by one of my initiators, part of my lineage actually traces back through the infamous Aleister Crowley. That is right, my lineage may go back to Crowley and MacGregor Mathers.

Of course, if you believe that a sinner like Crowley cannot pass on a lineage, then the initiations I got from that lineage does not count. In fact, I can point to dubious characters in all the other lineages that I supposely have. Therefore by the logic and beliefs of many people, I am not an initiate at all.

To add a cherry on top, having sat in the hot seat and initiated people myself into the Golden Dawn system, there are people who trace their GD lineage through me. While I am not as bad as Crowley, there are some people who think that I am more than slightly evil.

And there are some people who do not even know that their lineage traces through me. (Oh, you know how that happens.) One should really pity those poor souls.

When I openly started kicking around this question this time around, someone pointed out that the question is really about the spiritual technology and not the person giving the initiation. That answer is fine...provided that there is only one true Golden Dawn, and everyone outside of the real Golden Dawn is not an initate at all.

(Please remember that everyone in the 80s and 90s claimed to be the one and only true Golden Dawn. Someone obviously had to be lying. My membership in an Order was based more on who I discovered first than on what they claimed to offer.)

Problem is that I do not believe that there is only one true Golden Dawn. I believe that all initiations have an effect on the person undergoing them. Therefore, the question is really about how badly does it affect someone to undergo an initiation where the officers are not ALL SAINTS armed with the COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF THE 10=1. Yes, I am serious. Saints who are 10=1s would be the ultimate initiation team.

(Of course, given the fact that there are only allowed to be twelve/twenty-four/thirty-six/seventy-two/whater-your-number-is Magus 9=2s in the entire world at any one time, logic tells us that the perfect initiation team is more myth than actual fact. Especially when you consider the number of groups that claim that there is only one 10=1 alive at any one time. And this is not even accounting for the groups who do not believe that Third Order Grades can be held by living physical human beings.)

Everyone who suffered with a team of initiators who were less than full 10=1s has been dealt a lineage with holes and problems in it. (I do mean the whole team has to be 10=1s--therefore the Neophyte Grade needs eleven 10=1s to man all the officer stations in order to properly do the Neophyte initiation.)

Lesser members do not have the full spiritual technology. Therefore, by logic of the spiritual technology model combined with the idea that officers must know and master it all (otherwise their ritual performances are flawed), only a person with access and mastery of the complete system, aka a 10=1, can provide a complete initiation. Logically by this style of thinking, only Third Order, and only those of the very highest Grade, should be giving initiations to anyone.

Yet we live in a world that this is not true. For instance, in the very first days of the Golden Dawn, there was only three officers and (let's be honest) they were not yet fully instructed in the system yet. Their rituals were flawed...their initiates were flawed...and the cycle goes on and on. Therefore, most initiates in Golden Dawn have undergone flawed initations.

So the real question becomes how do you deal with the fact that you have a Crowley in the woodpile. The answer is keep collecting lineages (to better your chances of connecting to a better stocked lineage) aka "healing your lineage" and/or by doing the advanced work of the system. The latter unfortunately requires finding the correct work to do, which also leads to collecting multiple lineages. Hence the only way to make sure that the rot of Crowley (or whoever your favorite villian is) does not bog you down is to join every Golden Dawn Order that will let you in the door. And don't trust anyone who claims to possess the only correct way to do things...because they might be wrong. You must collect all the lineages if you want to be absolutely sure that you have the correct spiritual technology.

Of course, if you are like me, a poor college student with little spare time and money, that is not really an option. In that case, you just have to make your best guess and cross your fingers. And in my case, let's be honest, everyone knows how incorrect my decision was.

"What the hell?! It is a tadpole--I wanted a dragon." "That is not a tadpole; that's a baby salmander." "A baby salmander?! I wanted a dragon." "Patience, patience, patience."

Why I dislike the labels

Lately, there has been a lot of labeling of various people and groups in the Golden Dawn community as "reconstructionist," "traditionalist," "reformist," etc.

And quite honestly, while I understand the need to make sure that newcomers know the positions of the groups and individuals involved, I think that the labels are doing more harm than good.

The problem with labels is that sooner or later, you get to the point when someone is saying that such a idealistic position is better than the others. In other words, you get someone claiming that one answer is the only correct answer---hoping that other people are going to believe them.

It does not help a diverse community get along.

In fact, labeling and name-calling leads to flame wars and witch wars, and all sorts of unpleasantness.

For instance, the one side's low opinion of scholars tends to make me avoid that side like I do most plagues. After all, I am training to be a scholar---being told that I have the morals of a zombified pig bent on destorying the world does not endear me to the opinions of the people who label me such.

Ok, in all fairness, they have not stated it in such a manner, but that is the way that I emotionally react to their opinions of scholars.

And that is the biggest problem with the labeling that is going on, people react to the labels emotionally. Because of that, large sections of the Golden Dawn community refuse to talk to other sections of the community.

(Ok, there are other reasons for the lack of communications---a laundry list of reasons. But the labelling is not helping any of us deal with the problems on the laundry list.)

It feels like the beginnings of the witch wars all again.

For those of who missed that little bit of unpleasantness, the core of the battle was the statement, "I am a real witch (Wiccan or whatever term they prefered), and So-and-so is not a real witch."

Compare it with the statement (well hidden in the process of labelling), "I am a member of the real Golden Dawn, and So-and-so and all with their (insert label) tendencies is not."

Do you see why I am worried?

My attittude to lineage

One of the things that I occasionally get curious about is my own lineage. The question tends to come up when I stumble across something that supposely only those with "real" lineages are supposed to be exposed to---something that I already know despite my less-than-golden lineage.

The last time this happened, I was leafing though Mather's Last Secret. And I was like, "Oh, that is where that traces to...gee, I wonder where Hathor Temple got the information from."

This curiosity is always momentary. Within an hour, I had moved onto bigger and better concerns. Quite honestly, my lineage is not important to me.

I think that this is a reaction to dealing with some people who claimed super-great lineages, but were in the running for most abusive occult leader ever. If lineage means that one gets to be an a**-hat, then I would prefer to lineage-less. It was also the same attitude that Hathor Temple had---which is a whole another story for another day.

QoD Ananael Qaa on the Value of Arguing over Survival of Pagan Systems

The following quote is from Ananael Qaa, who does the Augoeides blog (which I read regularly because he finds news items that I completely miss otherwise); Ananael was commenting on a re-route post by VVF-Otherwordly Sorcery pointing out the current blog posts by Caroline Tully and David Griffin regarding the work of Professor Ronald Hutton.

"Aside from its academic value [arguing over the survival of pagan traditions] is such a silly subject. It's worthwhile to try and work out what the real history is, but why this would have any effect on someone's magical or spiritual practices is completely beyond me.

"From a technical standpoint the modernity of a system is a feature, not a bug. Horsedrawn carriages have a noble and ancient history in our civilization, but if you own a modern car you're going to beat your Amish neighbor into town every time."

Fencesitting on Lineage

I am a fencesitter. Often, I can see both sides of an issue, and honestly could care less if one side earns a victory over another. One of the issues that I am a fencesitter about is the subject of lineage and how important it is. This annoys a lot of people.

It does not help that the first question out of my mouth when the subject comes up is: What type of lineage? For some reason, people get annoyed when they are asked to define how they are using the term. My bad childhood and Order background automatically makes me suspect that their definition is a fuzzy one designed to change as rapidly as necessary to defeat all attempts to prove their arguments wrong.

My bad childhood and Order background also kicks in because often people who argue about its importance (or lack thereof) are trying to prove one of two things. Either they are trying to prove that their lineage is better than mine (and that I should listen and obey them without thinking) or they are trying to prove that lineage is completely unimportant and that their brand of wacky is Golden Dawn (and that I should listen and obey them without thinking). Both situations bring out the evil in me---typically in the form of insubordinate laughter.

At this point, both sides of the lineage argument are going to toss bricks at me. Hopefully they are gold bricks with a lemon peel wrapped around them.

So why is it that someone with my experience can still sit on the fence on the importance of lineage? Simple, I do not think that either side has proven their case.

On the lineage is everything side (slight poofing of the stance), one of their claims is that lineage produces better lodges and Orders. This case falls apart when I think about the wreckage I have seen scattered in the wake of those who shouted that they should lead because their lineage was the best. Lineage often is nothing more than an excuse to abuse the members of an Order. And curiously enough, there are times when the person who did the damage had a better lineage than I did.

On the lineage is nothing side (slight poofing of the stance), one of their claims is that having a lineage teaches you nothing about running a lodge, and that any set of symbols used in conjunction with lodgekit can produce an usable esoteric lodge. Furthermore, they claim that in the case of Golden Dawn, the backbone of lineage was broken years ago and is often just a tool for abusing the members of the system. Ironically, this side also has its fair share of wreckage. This side's argument falls apart whenever I notice the wacky ideas that they want me to swallow.

For the record, I have worked with groups with lineage and groups without lineage. And I have experienced rituals with power on both sides...and rituals that had no oomph on both sides.

Ultimately for myself, I know that lineage is not important for a new lodge or Order to form...I have worked with some groups which system was made up the day before they started working as a lodge. I also had the experience of having gone though a ritual and understanding things that I never understood before that were not touched upon during the ritual; but given the lineage claimed, made perfect sense that the initiatory lineage claimed would impart such knowledge (aka "healing a lineage"), along with the additional power my own rituals suddenly had.

Ultimately, I can sit on the fence on this issue because both sides are right, and both sides tend to misuse the argument for their own dubious purposes. Lineage is a tool, and not the end-all of esoteric Orders. Lineage is only important for the working magician if they know how to tap into its power; otherwise they are probably better off without any (this goes for all three types).

Using Regardie as a benchmark

The biggest portion of published Golden Dawn and RC et AC documents (assuming that Stella Matutina can be considered Golden Dawn) was published by the late Isreal Regardie. His work has became the thirty-six inch rule (or twenty-four inch rule if you are a Freemason) that many people judge what is and what is not Golden Dawn by.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems with using Regardie as our benchmark for what should and should not be in Golden Dawn.

The first of which is that the branch he belonged to, the Stella Matutina, was a later offshoot of the original Order; it had roots in the original Order, but some changes had been made to the rituals and lesson plans. Yet many people consider his documents to be the proper standard despite this.

The second problem is that Regardie was a mere ZAM (Zelator Adept Minor 5=6) when he left the system. The few higher documents of the THAM Grade and of Waite's Holy Order that he collected and published are not enourgh to judge what the higher Grades of the Golden Dawn should look like. Yet many people consider his documents to be the proper standard despite this.

The third problem is that he picked up a lot of ideas from Crowley. Now, personally, I have no problem with Crowley in small doses, but Crowley's ideas belong more properly to his own Order, the AA, and to OTO; Thelema is not part of Golden Dawn; at best it is a sister system. Yet many people consider his documents to be the proper standard despite this.

(Though I will admit that the Thelemic Golden Dawn has combined the two quite nicely. I do not say that as a member of the TGD, though I might still be a member of that Order depending upon how you view my parting with that organization.)

(I still need to study the material of Open Source Order of Golden Dawn before deciding if they are combining the two in what I consider an acceptable manner; acceptable being defined as "does not make me run for the hills.")

The fourth and most important problem is that Regardie only attended his own initiations. He attended no lectures, had no exposure to the oral tradition, had no contact with the other members of his Order. He had only the Stella Matutina documents to judge what Golden Dawn is or is not. Yet many people consider his documents to be the proper standard despite this.

All this translates into a situation where people are using the documents that he had published to judge a system that had more branches and more differences in it than he was aware of. His Golden Dawn is not necessarily my Golden Dawn; nor is it necessarily yours either.

GD as an open document

In Golden Dawn today, there are essentially two camps.

There is the camp that believes that the work and lectures of the founders and earlier Adepts of the system is perfect and can not be changed. This camp tends to emphasize lineage.

Then there is the camp that believes that the Golden Dawn system can be changed by those who are currently in the system. This camp tends to downplay lineage, and totally ignores the concept of the Secret Chiefs (at least in the sense of them being the bosses of us all).

Readers of my posts and the lodge's website know what camp I am in; or at least, they should be able to figure it out relatively easily.

Both camps will agree that the system of Golden Dawn as we have it is not completed. It is just how to go about completing it that is in dispute. The parts that are not completed are the Inner Order and the Third Order.

The Secret Chief crowd say that this material is already in existence and that we must humbly submit to the orders of the Secret Chiefs to gain the material. They will occasionally point out that either of those Orders are actually teaching Orders; both emphasize private work. To which, I will respond "If after Adept Minor Theoricus, I am on my own, recieving just approval or dismay at my experimential results, what is the purpose of me trying to convince the Secret Chiefs and their supporters that I should be allowed to go past THAM?"

The other camp believes that Golden Dawn is an open document. Members of this camp may not even believe that a hundred percent correctness in the material is even possible. They believe that the task of completing the system falls to the current and future members.

This idea, that Golden Dawn is an open document, annoys a lot of leaders in Golden Dawn. They point out that it goes against what the founders of Golden Dawn said about the system. They point out that students can not know what works and what doesn't. They are reasonable arguments.

Except that the highest positions in all fields have always had to develop the next level, relying only on results and peer reviews to validate their ideas and theories (using the concept that it is not a theory if it can not be tested).

And what no one wants pointed out is that there is evidence that the founders and the later Chiefs of Golden Dawn were treating the system as an open document. But you didn't hear me suggest that idea, did you?

Roots of Golden Dawn: Part Three

Let’s take a look at the word “lineage.” It seems to be a clear-cut word, and people who use it tend to act as if it has a precise definition.

It does not.

Looking it up in the dictionary, one would think that it only would have one use in esoteric circles. The dictionary says that lineage is the “1. lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry or extraction. 2. the line of descendants of a particular ancestor; family; race.”

And while it is true that lineage in esoteric circles does mean “lineal descent from a source,” what makes talking about lineage is so frustrating is the fact that there are (at least) three different things that people are tracing the line of development of (or lack thereof) and refer to by the term “lineage.”

I realized this a few years ago after a particularly heated internet discussion. Taking a step back, I realized that what person A was saying about lineage was not what person B was talking about. And either one of them seemed to be thinking of lineage in the same manner that I was.

At this point, I started to research the term and how it had been used in the past. I discovered that the confusion about the term had existed since the formation of the modern lodge system in the 18th century. (The confusion might predate the eighteenth century; my own sources only go back so far.)

It was like the internet discussions except that one did not have the luxury of being able to ask a writer how they were defining the term.

Even worse, some writers seemed to be using the term in more than one sense.

And the cherry on top? I realized that I, myself, was using the term lineage to describe more than one thing. This offended my Virgo Sun and Leo Mercury.

So I sat down and looked at what I was using the term to describe, and then proceeded to coin some clarification terms to make it clearer for others to understand what I was trying to say.

(It is with some pleasure [yes, I have an ego] that I have stumbled across other members of the Golden Dawn community using the same clarification terms to clear up the confusion about their own use of the word.)

So what are the three kinds of descent that the esoteric community uses the term “lineage” to describe?

The first kind of descent is “Administrative Lineage.” This type of lineage refers to the right to run a group under the approval of a parent organization, and have its members recognized as legitimate and true members of that parent body.

The second kind of lineage is “Initiatory Lineage.” It is the type of lineage referred to when we talk about person X initiating person Y, who in turn initiated person Z.

The third type of lineage is the tracing where the ideas of a system come from; this type of lineage I refer to as “Memeonic Lineage.”

Possessing one type of lineage does not mean that you automatically have, or are entitled to, another type of lineage.

It is best to remember that one only knows for certain who gave oneself their authority, who was in the same room when you received your initiations, and where one got the inspiration and material for one own ideas and opinions; everything else you are told by other members, including your leaders and teachers, is merely hearsay. If you were not present for the event, you can not be sure that it actually happened the way that you were told it did.

~~~To Be Continued~~~

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~~~

Lineage: what we can be sure about it

One of the concepts in Golden Dawn that creates a lot of smoke, but very little heat is lineage. A lot of people talk about it as it if it is the heart and soul of Golden Dawn. Especially those who are in the business of selling you the product of their Order.

But is it that important?

I would have to say no. Ultimately, it is the work that is the important part of the system. The world best lineage and a ten dollars will pay you a cup of coffee (presuming of course, that Starbucks has not raised their prices since this morning).

I was told by the people that brought me into Golden Dawn that "The only thing that you can know for sure about your lineage is the people who were in the room during your initiations; everything else is merely hearsay."

Tradition from last Thursday

One of the things that I worry about is the idea that older is better in occultism. And preferably old is best when it traces back to Moses. Hence, the whole idea of lineage, and the "Only True LVX Order."

The problem is with this is that ideas, which are fuel for the mind, and symbols, which are food for the soul, have limited shelf-lives, just like food for the body does. Some of the ideas and symbols used by Big Name Orders are as wholesome as the cans of survivor rations that are stored in my grandfather's fallout shelter. I am not willing to stick beef stew canned in 1961 into my mouth; why would I consider putting ideas and symbols such as Atlantis into my head and heart?

At one time, Atlantis was an useful symbol. Plato created it, probably basing its mythical disappearance on a real event, and used it as a prop for his idea of the Philosopher-King. For those who are unaware of his ideas and have no idea what he wrote in another of his works, The Republic, he thought that some people were more qualified to rule than others and that they should use force to remain in power.

Sounds a little like the ideas that have led to Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, and Jonestown, doesn't it?

His fiction of Atlantis was ignored for several centuries until the New World started to be explored when it gained a new purpose. It was a way to explain how animals and plants could be common to both the New World and the Old World despite a large ocean between them. Today, we know more about the land/ice bridge and no longer have any need of the theory.

But some occultists refuse to give it up. It is old; it has lineage, and it is more romantic than the theories that someone came up with last Thursday.

According to the lineage crowd if an idea can be traced to its source, like maybe Pat Zalewski, or did not have the kiss of approval by a Philosopher-King, then it is useless, untrue, and everyone should be forced into a better Order (today, the legal system is the force favored) with older and better ideas; there you will be told who is telling the truth and who is not, what to think and why to think it.

It is a perfect world based on a perfect idea carried down though time by a perfect tradition and taught by perfect officers. Perfect, that is, if you are a sheep. As for myself, I am a goat; and I am going to take a look at the idea from last Thursday and see if it is better.

Differentiation of egregores

(Note: Some readers may have read this already. I thought that the issue is important enough that I shared it on one of the Golden Dawn forums.)

A common event during the birth years of Orders, especially those which arise out of schisms, is the founder of the Order writing a document(s) that states why their Order is different and better than the other Orders that one could join. Part of the reason for this is economical politics (all Orders of a certain type and style tend to draw off the same possible membership pool), and partly is due to ego issues (the founder of a new Order is normally doing it because he thinks that he is more capable of running an Order than the people he just broke away from).

That is what we see happening on the surface level; but there is something else going on that many people may not be aware of, which is how this is affecting the egregore of the group.

Now the term “egregore,” in the oldest references that I have been able to trace it to, referred to the occult theory that each nation had an angel (god) which was its patron and guardian. This term and concept later ends up being applied to a mystery of the esoteric Orders.

Now the truth of the matter is that any group of people that gathers together will generate an egregore. Book clubs, businesses, military units, soccer fans, football fans, in fact any gathering of people will create an egregore. Most egregores are temporary things; unfortunately, they are the most primitive and the most dangerous in many ways. Riots tend to be caused by primitive egregores which is why trained Adepts tend to avoid large crowds.

It is possible for Initiates to keep themselves out of spontaneous egregores, and to be able to stand back and observe the effects of the larger ones. It is a skill like any other and can be taught; the base line information on how to do it is hidden in basic lodgekit.

Now in Golden Dawn, we use our egregore all the time. We use it for extra power during ritual, use it to help guide us, and to store excess energy for later. Call it a god, call it an angel, call it an energy bank. Except that we are not all using the same one.

Each Order has its own uber-egregore (I am open to suggestions for revision of this term, but it says what I want it to say) which acts as a template for the egregores that its daughter lodges create. This is one of the first things that an Order creates, knowingly or unknowingly. (This is not to be confused with the Arch-egregore that sits above all of them, and supports the tradition itself.)

And the founders of Orders do their part to differentiate their uber-egregore from the others. In part, this is done though changing the name of the Order, its rituals, and teachings, so that it doesn’t match other Orders.

The reason for this differentiation is that every time a member of the Order generates excess energy in a ritual, the egregore absorbs it. Think of it as a direct deposit device. It knows what energies to absorb and which to ignore by how the energy was generated. And members of Orders learn to generate energy in very specific ways.

(This is by the way one of the reasons that lineage and hierarchy is important; lineage is the wiring of an initiate to send excess energy to a specific egregore based on a specific uber-egregore, and one’s position in the hierarchy helps determines how much access that one has to the energy that has been previously stored.)

So for instance, when Paul Foster Case issued his statement that Enochian led to bad things, that statement helped led to the BOTA egregore ignoring the energies raised by Enochian methods (provided of course, that all the Enochian has truly been removed from the system) and not storing that energy. It would lead to a certain amount of paranoia about the energies in later members (which makes me wonder about Case himself).

You can also see differentiating statements in the works of Mathers, Fortune, and Crowley. I, myself, wrote a couple of statements at the beginning of Bast Temple that ended up affecting the system.

The differentiation of the egregores and the Orders leads to all types of interesting effects. But the most important is that the energies raised by my lodge do not flow into the energy bank of another group.

Now, I would like to explain why I have been thinking of this lately. There has been a lot of noise about differences in techniques and ethics practiced by different groups (in fact, the Denver community now has three lodges, all with a different opinion about the matter). And some people think this is a bad thing.

It is not. I am grateful for these differences. As long as these differences exist, everyone interested in Golden Dawn can find a group suitable for them. It is only when these differences disappear that we will end up with a monolithic single Order, and a whole bunch of people will be excluded from the tradition. Ironically, I would be one of the ones excluded, due to my pro-gun, pro-militia, pro-choice, and semi pro-death penalty opinions. There is also the issue of my big mouth. And quite honestly, I like being part of Golden Dawn.