ROGD website shut down by trademark threat

On October 28, 2015, the Golden Dawn Order ROGD website was shut down by their ISP (internet service provider) upon the receivership of a notice from the lawyers of the AMORC (Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis).

The ISP was given a notice that the ROGD was engaged in "Trademark infringement, Unfair competition, and Deceptive trade practices concerning the ROSICRUCIAN ORDER phrase." Furthermore, the ISP was informed that no one has successfully stood up in court against AMORC. AMORC lawyers closed the notice with a note saying that the letter was written without prejudice (a funny sounding legal term) and that "[AMORC lawyers] look forward to your favorable replies by no later than November 15, 2015, including confirmation that you will no longer use or assist with the use on any website or otherwise of the phrase ROSICRUCIAN ORDER in or with any name or trademark."

Now, for those who do not know AMORC was a business for its founder; and at one time, advertised in all the major and most of the minor magazine markets. And I am positive that its current board is making a fair living from the Order.

(I have said it before and I will say it again--the use of trademarks makes an organization a business for the Head(s) of that organization, and is only used to make sure that an organization has the sole monopoly on a spiritual system. I only know of one instance, just one, where the taking out of and the defense of a trademark was not done for strictly business purposes. When trademarks come into play, spiritual organizations cease to be spiritual and become nothing more than money printing presses for the Head(s) of the trademarked Orders.)

When news of the ROGD website shutdown appeared on Facebook, AMORC members leaped to the defense of AMORC. Some AMORC members tried to get the notices taken down by arguing that the moderators and owners of various FB pages and groups were not doing their job and breaking the rules of FB groups. Some people reported the notices (FB and group moderators ignored the reports). And at least one AMORC member reported that a moderator under the "real name" policy (too bad for them that the moderator was actually using their real name).

Then when this kind of tactic failed, the AMORC members declared that this takedown had nothing to do with AMORC (in FB groups that are focused on Golden Dawn and general Rosicrucian studies) and that the notice had to be taken down on those grounds.

And when that failed to work, the mob declared that ROGD was actually guilty of deceptive spiritual practices because AMORC never takes other Rosicrucian Orders to court (funny, I know at least one such legal action has been taken, and the letter implies that such actions have indeed occurred). Furthermore, the defenders declared that AMORC is the one and only Rosicrucian Order in the world today....therefore, no one else is actually Roscicrucian.

All of which scores high on my "if it acts like a cult, it probably is" scale.

Just because you are a good person in an Order that claims to be spirtual, mystic, magical, or whatnot, that does not mean that the people at the top of the system are pure in spirit. And people pointing out the dubious behavior of the leadership of the organization you belong to is not an attack about you. But when you rush to the defense of such an Order, especially blindly, well, then we will point out that perhaps you are a little brainwashed. And what is the first sign of a cult?! Yeah, that's right---check your brain at the door.

The official announcement from the ROGD website.

How to foresee outbreaks of flamewars and hordes of trolls from the true GD

If you ever want to be able to predict flame war outbursts, and how David Griffin and his loyal following are going to respond, just keep in mind three things.

One, David Griffin wants to turn the Golden Dawn into his own personal business, have a monopoly, and have control over the entire system (aka control the trademarked name and control its entire membership). Hence his love of secrecy and traditional lore that you can only receive if you accept him as the gatekeeper and true guardian of the Golden Dawn tradition.

Two, David Griffin wants to be known as the foremost authority on Golden Dawn and the esoteric traditions, yet remain humble at the same time. Hence his bragging that the Secret Chiefs have chosen him as their sole contact and voice.

Three, David Griffin carries a grudge against anyone that has helped prevent him from accomplishing the first two goals. Anything that anyone says or does that makes it harder for him to accomplish the first two goals will result in a flame war attack against the statement or action, along with a character assassination attempt.

[This post was written on May 22, 2013 and is being held in reserve for the next time that the trolls decide to come after me for upsetting the "rightful and only true leader of the Golden Dawn."]

Why no name change for this RC reformation?

One of the questions that I often kick around is: How much change has to happen before a Order becomes a new Order?

Is changing the Grade Signs enourgh?

The Passwords?

The Rituals?

The Oath of Obligation?

Curriclum?

The ultimate secret?

The focus of the system?

At what point in time, do the changes add up to a new Order? When does an Order have to adapt a new name because it is no longer the old Order?

Looking over the history of the Rosicrucian periodic reformations, we see the rituals change, the focus change, and we ALWAYS see a name change. Except for this time. This time, we saw the group claiming the reformation trademark the name and change everything else. Why?

The entire system has been changed (to keep the Current and Tradition pure from traitors to the system), but they are still using the same old name. And when one starts to kick around the possible reasons, well, I can't think of a good reason for the old name to be used with what is essentially a brand-new system.

Could it be that the Rosicrucian reformation is actually happening in another group? Could it be that the Golden Dawn is not where the reformation is happening?

It is something to think about.

Golden Dawn or Not

One of the things about being a writer is that (in theory) one becomes aware of the fact that labels are important; people think of names and terms in little bits, not in tangled string balls. Occasionally, a writer will switch labels on some subject just because they are sick and tired of confusing people.

One of the labels I sometimes wonder about is "Golden Dawn." Or to be more exact, I wonder where the limits are of the term "Golden Dawn" lay. I also wonder about the terms "RR et AC" and "RC."

The root of this confusion lies in the fact that a reformation happened, but the reformers continued using the name despite the fact that non-reformers were still using the name. It has made the terms as useful as "Christianity," "wicca," and "magic," especially if you are concerned with being accurate with the way you are using them.

I generally tend to *sigh* before trying to figure out a way to point out the weirdness of the way I think of the terms. And yesterday, events made it just that much harder to be able to make sure people know what I mean when I say "Golden Dawn."

Unfortunately, I have yet to find a better term for the system that I am working. By goddess, I am looking forward to that day, just so that I can be free of the nonsense of having to spend an hour saying "We do this like side A, but this like side B, and this like side C, etc. etc." when I use the term "Golden Dawn."

Bottom-line, one should not need a score-card to figure out what someone is talking about unless you are talking sports or test scores.

Legalese induced coma

{I advise my loyal readers to skip to the final paragraph; it is all you really need to read here.}

Today I spent an hour hacking my way though some legal documents that got posted to the world wide web. And honestly, they almost put me into a coma. They made my day at jury selection look like a cakewalk.

I found these documents though a post that David Griffin did. I read them because I felt obligated to read them; nobody else in my lodge is going to bother reading them.

None of us got involved in Golden Dawn, nor any Golden Dawn-based group just so that we can read legal documents. Or at least, I hope none of us did. Then again, there are the writings of Waite...Crowley and Mathers are not much better...and I do know a couple of people who have read the Talmud. Well, I still hold out hope that none of us joined up to read legal documents.

And what did I learn that I did not already know? Just one thing. I am not completely wrong when I refer to Robert Zink's Order as the Hermetic Order of the Morning Star International (a habit I developed during my first encounter with its membership which feels like a century ago).

{Disclosure: I have never been a member of the HOMSI, nor have I ever been a member of Griffin's A&O.}

Reading the documents, I found myself thinking once again that the trademark dispute had nothing to do with esoterics, and everything to do with business.

Of course, let's be honest: My well of thinking is poisoned here. My father started a produce business under the name Farmland Produce. He had to change the name of the company because it was too close to the trademarked name of another company (does anyone really need me to give them a free plug?).

And my advice to anyone who choses to read these legal documents, Griffin's and Zink's postings, or anything else related to this dispute is to read it though the lenses of money making and business. Just presume that all statements are about increasing one's own ability to gain members while decreasing another person's ability to do the same. This statement is not completely true, but I feel that enourgh of the smoke and thunder is directed towards that purpose to justify the advice. {Disclosure: I am writer; part of my income comes from pageviews; do I need to say more?}

Correction notice: 13 January 2010: After reading a comment by VH Soror FSO, I decided to change "make money" to "gain members" in the previous paragraph. Reading her comment, I realized that the non-profit Orders are after members, and not money; hence the correction.