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"This is part 3 of the three part history of the Qabbalah. I hope that you enjoyed it."
5. Classical Qabbalism. From the 11th through the 17th centuries C.E. This period saw a four phase migration that witnessed periods of intellectual blossoming in Provence, Moorish and Christian Spain, Safed in Palestine, and finally, returning to Europe at the advent of the Renaissance. During this period there were also some calamities that afflicted various Jewish cultural centers, such as the Albigensian Crusade (1209 - 1229), the sack of Baghdad by Ikhanate Mongol forces in 1258, and the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492.
Despite the calamities that forced the Jewish peoples to relocate from one place to another, the study and spread of Qabbalah became much more wide-ranging than at any other time. It was also a period that saw an extensive development and evolution of ideas, when the Qabbalah started to become a solidified discipline, acquiring many of the features that occultists today would recognize. During this period, the study of Qabbalah supplanted previous forms of Jewish theology, and for a time, completely dominated Jewish religious thought. However, even as the Qabbalah became more accessible to Jewish lay scholars (and even Christian academics), it was still the provenance of a select few, even though that exclusivity began to evaporate by the beginning of the 16th century.
Provence: It was in this location that the classical Qabbalah had its true birth. Various writings, speculations and insights assembled from sources in the East (Baghdad) and from Germany (Worms) were used to write the first true Qabbalistic work, called the Sefer ha-Bahir, which was ostensibly an occult form of the Midrash, consisting of various commentaries on verses from the Torah, particularly those of a decided mystical or mythical nature. Many of the various speculations begun in the geonic period are given a greater development in the book of Bahir, particularly, the concept of the Shekinah as a distinct entity. Provence was where rabbinic culture achieved a high state of development, and many pagan philosophical works were translated, most notably by Judah ibn Tibben, and many of these translated works were from neoplatonic sources. It is here that gnostic speculation was fully wedded with neoplatonic philosophy within a Jewish religious framework. Qabbalistic practices focused on an emphasis of seeking communion with the Deity through meditation on the sephiroth and their occult analogues. Also, the concept of the Ain-Soph was developed as a way to explain the manifestation of the finite material world through the agency of an infinite and unmanifest Godhead. From Provence, the Qabblah spread to Spain via Catalonia.
Gerona, Toledo and Castile - Spanish Qabbalah: It was in Spain that the Qabbalah acquired its more modern qualities, and it was here that the Qabbalah split into three distinct schools, and where some of the scholars sought to bridge that split. Gerona was the first location to flower, establishing the basic structure and tenets that became the Classical Qabbalah. It was in Gerona that ecstatic tendencies were renewed and propagated. From this foundational school, two other opposing perspectives began to dominate the practice and teachings of Classical Qabbalah. On the one side presided what could be called the rational school of Qabbalah (Isaac ibn Latif), where its adherents sought to describe it through a more philosophical and mystical interpretation, removing the more occult elements and seeking to use a system of devotion and contemplation to realize the various tenets. They taught that the adherent should contemplate on the sacred names and letters to produce mystical states resulting in prophecy. The other side (Isaac ha-Kohen) was characterized by a school declaring the opposite perspective, that of gnostic theosophy, occult speculation and the deliberate practice of theurgy. It is from this more occult school that the speculations of a Tree of Evil (demonic emanations) began to be developed, which included the developing of a more systematic hierarchy of angelic and demonic spirits, as well as equating the Logos (as found in Greek philosophy) with a new angel called Metatron.
Zohar: this was the first successful attempt at producing a Qabbalistic Midrash. Moses de Leon wrote this monumental work in around 1281 as an attempt to mediate these three different schools into a single unified one, producing a work that merged rational philosophy with gnostic and occult insights and tenets. This work consisted of a vast multi volume set of homiletics on the Torah, the books of Song of Songs, Ruth and Lamentations. These were not comprehensive commentaries, but instead focused on strategic passages. The Zohar had the effect of producing a kind of uniquely Jewish theology, (even though it was wedded to tenets that were particularly uncanonical), and this helped to bring it into the mainstream of Jewish thought.
Safed: When the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, many of them found their way to Safed in Palestine, and also Italy. It was in Safed that Qabbalah acquired its messianic and apocalyptic qualities, and these were wedded to the core of its beliefs and tenets. It was also here that the Qabbalah found its greatest teacher and intellectual exponent (Isaac Luria) and began its powerful and compelling spread throughout the Jewish diaspora.
Isaac Luria Ashkenazi - the "Ari" Lion - (1534 - 1572): It was Luria who brought all of the various strains of Spanish Qabbalah together to synthesize it into a powerful modern religious system. Many of the idiosyncracies and philosophical problems in the Qabbalah were brilliantly and completely resolved by the writings and teachings of Luria. It was Luria who developed the concept of the sephiroth as divine personas, arranged them into three pillars (creating a cosmogonic dialectic) and saw them as the dynamically changing and evolving manifestation of the will and mind of the Deity. He also developed the notion of the four qabbalistic worlds, and resolved the issue of how the infinite unmanifest Godhead was able to create a finite material world through the mysterious artifice of contraction, concealment and veilings - the generation of a vacuum of empty space before creation.
Luria also developed the speculation that became the qliphoth, discussed the shattering of the six lower sephiroth above Malkuth (allowing for the incursion of evil), and the attribution of a mythic and psychological drama associated with the redemption of spiritual "sparks" of the individual human entity, now divided into four specific parts of the soul. His teachings had a powerful messianic quality, where he predicted that the messiah was immanent, and that event would also begin the ending of the world as the messiah recollected all of the spirits of humanity and delivered them up to the Deity. After his death, Luria's teachings, for a time, eclipsed all other teachings and became part of the Jewish mainstream. The messianic tensions found in his teachings, along with his various vague apocalyptic pronouncements, ultimately produced the heresies of the aborted Shabbatai Zevi messianic crusade (b. 1670 - d. 1730).
6. Period of Transference. From the 15th through 18th centuries. There are many indicators that Christians and occultists had been distilling the Jewish Qabbalah beginning from the time that it had emerged into Europe during the middle ages. An examination of Agrippa's work, the "Occult Philosophy," demonstrates that by 1531, the entire corpus of the Qabbalah (particularly the practical and occult practices) had already been thoroughly translated and dispersed by academics throughout most of Europe. This would lead one to conclude that various contents of the Zohar and the writings of Luria had been leaked or deliberately shared with sympathetic Christian scholars and occultists. It is also likely that various Jewish magical practices and techniques had also been appropriated by individuals in Christian circles. How and exactly when this occurred is unknown, but it was likely the impetus for the development of the Solomonic system of ceremonial magick. However, it was not until the year 1671 that Christian Knorr Von Rosenroth translated and published four books of the voluminous Zohar in Latin, making it available to nearly anyone who had at least a rudimentary education. Additionally, Rosenroth also published other translated Qabbalistic writings, and these included works by Luria. It's also likely that the spread of the Qabbalah within the Christian community also facilitated the spread of Qabbalah within the European Jewish community.
Decline of Jewish Qabbalah: After the failed messianism of Shabbatai Zevi, the Jewish Qabbalah began to slowly decline in the 18th century. It would seem that the harsh lesson of Shabbatai Zevi, and the obvious heterodoxic nature of the Qabbalah, caused it to become increasingly rejected by various orthodox groups, with the exception of the Hasidic Jews, where it continued to be practiced through the 19th century and even later.
7. The Modern Occult Qabbalah. From 19th to 20th centuries. In the mid 19th century, the scholarship of Eliphaz Levi, Papus and MacGregor Mathers determined the current structure of the Qabbalistic Tree of Life, and attributed the Tarot Trumps to the 22 Letters associated with the Pathways. MacGregor Mathers reintroduced the discipline of the practical Qabbalah, and translated the works of Von Rosenroth into English. Mathers was also responsible for either publishing or translating the Lesser and Greater Key of Solomon, the Grimmoire of Armadel, the Enochian magical system of Dr. John Dee, and the Sacred Book of Abramelin the Mage. The teachings of the Magickal Fraternity that he established (Golden Dawn) has influenced many subsequent students of the Qabbalah, including Aleister Crowley, W. E. Butler, Israel Regardie, Dion Fortune, William Grey, Gareth Knight and Kenneth Grant.
Mather's ground breaking work was taken up and developed by other occultists, who thereby brought it into the mainstream of occult beliefs and practices in the 20th and 21st centuries. Most notable for their contributions was Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune and Israel Regardie, who distilled and advanced the basic Qabbalistic knowledge of the Golden Dawn so that it became more of a meta-system than a repository of Jewish gnostic and theosophic speculation. Like Mathers, these individuals intrinsically wedded the Qabbalah to the practice of Western Magic. Aleister Crowley was the first to publish the Golden Dawn Qabbalistic writings on gematria, tables of correspondence as well as his own writings and interpretations, and expounded on the Tarot as an adjunct to the Qabbalah, producing his own Tarot deck (Book of Thoth).
Dion Fortune blended many extensive theosophical speculations into the Qabbalah, and Paul Foster Case blended the Tarot with the Qabbalah, so that the Tarot was defined and given its meaning solely through Qabbalistic symbolism. W. E. Butler and Gareth Knight, who were both students of Dion Fortune, produced a correspondence course on the Qabbalah, and Knight later wrote a ground breaking text book (Practical Qabalistic Symbolism), one that most modern occultists have read and studied. William Grey wrote a concise work (Ladder of Lights) and established himself as one of the truly gifted occultists of the 20th century. He went on to write many more books about ceremonial magick and the Qabbalah. Israel Regardie developed and refined the Golden Dawn teachings of the Qabbalah, first put forward by Mathers and his associate, Westcott. Kenneth Grant sought to develop and integrate the qliphoth with the sephiroth, referring to it as the backside of the Tree of Life, and thus show the integral relativity of both the lefthand and right-hand occult paths.
RECAP OF THE OVERALL EVOLUTION OF THE QABBALAH
The first stage of the evolution of the Qabbalah concerned itself with various attempts to depict and conceptualize the powers and majesty of the Deity. It was not an idle process, since it was meant to allow for greater access and individual conscious assumption of the mysterious Hebrew Godhead. These intentions were hidden within mysticism, but early Judaism contended with the doctrine of an invisible and unknowable Deity amidst a plethora of highly represented pagan deities, both gods and goddesses. The concept of Elohim (gods) as one of the representations of this Deity clearly shows the probable amalgamation of many deities into the one, ultimately called Yahweh. The Hebrew nation did not become truly monotheistic until later in their history (possibly 6th or even 5th century B.C.E), and so there was always a tendency for polytheism inherent in Judaism. When the orthodox doctrine of monotheism (there is only one God) finally became enforced, the tendency to polytheism found other avenues, particularly in the areas of mysticism and the illicit practice of ritual and ceremonial magick. Access to the powers and glories of a monotheistic Deity was expressly forbidden by the cannon of the law and established traditions, but the Merkabah and Heikhalot systems of mysticism and magick certainly allowed speculation and practices that were essentially heretical in nature.
The impact of Greek philosophy and Gnosticism on Jewish thought has been little noted in Jewish mystical circles, particularly in regards to the origins of the Qabbalah. While it is certainly true that Jewish writers such as Philo were later discredited and ignored by the scholars of the Talmudic period, non Jewish systems of theosophy and theurgy continued to invade the fringes of Jewish thought. The core doctrines and beliefs of the Qabbalah were developed long after similar speculation had already been written down and established in philosophical and gnostic circles. Still, the Qabbalah was a very tight synthesis of traditional Jewish thought and Greek philosophy; but it remained on the fringes of scholastic writings and the established traditions and liturgies of the rabbinic culture until the late Renaissance. It was almost as if one had to be both a Jew and a Qabbalist, since they were not synonymous. The middle ages saw great Qabbalistic works written, such as the Zohar, but there were other works created, like the Sword of Solomon, the Sepher ha-Ratziel, and the Book of Abramelin, which represented the magickal practices of the Qabbalah. These magickal works, or grimoires, and their associated theosophical and occult speculation represented a problem with the emergence of the Qabbalah as a system of Jewish theology. It was due largely to these and other excesses that Judaism narrowed its accepted practices, which lead to the eventual abandonment of the Qabbalah as a Jewish religious tradition. The Jewish Qabbalah was just too prone to uncanonical practices and heresy, and seemed to advocate highly unacceptable religious speculation.
During the late middle ages, the doctrines and beliefs of the Qabbalah began to filter into the scholarly world of Christian Europe, and by the 19th century, it had been completely taken over and made into an occult doctrine. The greatest contributions to the works of the Qabbalah were made in the middle to late 19th century, and these were made by individuals who were not practitioners of Judaism. Certainly, the evolution and derivation of the Qabbalah from its Hebrew source did not allow it to be easily reintegrated into Jewish religious doctrine, and so there are now at least two versions of the Qabbalah, since the resurgence of its study in the present age was promoted first by adherents of the Hasadim, and then by others, which caused some orthodox and reformed Jews to return to and expand on the earlier writings of Isaac Luria, and many others.
Modern occultists are divided as to whether the Qabbalah should be used for meditation and contemplation only, or with the inclusion of ritual and ceremonial magick. Certainly Mathers and Crowley proposed the full incorporation of the Qabbalah when they wrote their books, formulated their rituals and ceremonies, and taught these practices to their students; but others have moved away from the practice of magick as being too controversial and prone to heretical practices and derivations. Still, for practicing ritual magicians, the Qabbalah is of critical importance. I would therefore recommend that it should be studied and mastered by all occult students, used in meditation, contemplation and employed to construct magickal rituals and ceremonies. I am recommending such an extensive use so that the various symbolic archetypes and spiritual hierarchy might become internally available to the seeker to experience and fully realize in a very direct and immediate fashion. In this manner, the Qabbalah becomes a real and living process that illuminates the spiritual and allegorical domains, and reveals the various qualities of the Deity and the fate of humankind. Therefore as a practice, it will lead to the highest possible states of spiritual illumination.
I hope this brief historical analysis has assisted you in realizing that the Qabbalah is an ever evolving discipline that has undergone a considerable amount of change and revision over the centuries. However, formulations of a kind of gnostic inspired theosophy as well as the continued use of the Qabbalah in various methods and techniques of ritual and ceremonial magick have been a constant factor in the evolution of this discipline. Anyone who seeks to divorce the heterodoxic nature of the Qabbalah, or to refute its use and application in forms of theurgy are promoting an egregious falsehood that belies its history, essential nature and practical use.
Frater Barrabbas
In in the Alpha Omega, our primary mission is to provide Western individuals with the tools they need for their spiritual and energetic evolution. As a part of this continuing mission, we are beginning to unveil several valuable new resources for Independent Practitioners of the Magic of Light.
There are Self-Initiates. There are Solitary Ritual Magic practitioners. There are Golden Dawn initiates in orders that will not teach them Ritual Magic in the outer order. There are Thelemites who would like to practice the Ritual Magic of "Liber O." There are Pagans who would like to properly invoke the forces of the Elements, Planets and Zodiac.
What do all of these people have in common? Except for my Ritual Magic Manual, all of these Independent Practitioners have been pretty much left to their own resources when it comes to their practice of the the Golden Dawn's system of spiritual evolution through the Magic of Light.
Well, that has changed, as of now. Over the next few weeks, the Alpha Omega is taking the lead once again, this time in providing you with one valuable resource after the other in regards to the Independent Practice of the Magic of Light.
Remember - Here in the Alpha Omega:
"We Make Magicians!"
This is the entire mission of our order, put into its simplest terms.
Independent practitioners have had my Ritual Magic Manual to assist them in their practice for over a decade already. Most independents, for whatever the reason, prefer not to work in a traditional order structure. Then there is the problem that most Golden Dawn orders other than the Alpha Omega do not provide any magical training at all to Outer Order initiates.
Thus there is a huge body of people out there who have been left until now with little guidance from Golden Dawn Adepts in their independent practice of Ritual Magic. The Alpha Omega is now stepping forward, as a community service, to better meet the needs of Independent Practitioners of the Magic of Light.
Today, it is my pleasure to unveil a bold new A.O. initiative. As the first step in our "1,000 Points of Light" initiative, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, and our parent order, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega would like to help ignite "1,000 Points of Light" around the world, with the goal of fostering the creation of 1,000 new Personal Temples.
Creating a Personal Temple will give your magic great power, because you build energy through constant magical practice in the same consecrated space. There are plenty of good resources available on how to create your own personal temple as well as how to craft magical tools. We encourage you to use these resources, together with your own personal creativity, to create your own, unique personal temple.
A personal temple does not need to be complicated. Your tools can be Golden Dawn style, Wiccan style, or whatever style suits you. What is important is that you dedicate a sacred space where you can practice Ritual Magic on a regular basis. It can be as simple or as elaborate as you like.
As I mention in the Ritual Magic Manual, if need be, you can practice Golden Dawn magic with nothing other than your index finger! On the other hand, you could craft all of the wands, swords, banners, robes, etc. that make up a full Golden Dawn temple. The choice is yours - and yours alone.
If you would like to do something in between, for Golden Dawn magic, what is most essential is to create an altar space and to place something to represent each of the four elements on it.
Some people use a fan for air, dirt for earth, a cup of water, and a candle for fire. Others like to craft and consecrate classic Golden Dawn magical implements; an air dagger, a fire wand, a water cup, and an earth pantacle, each with the correct sigils and names of power.
Certain Wiccan practitioners prefer to work with a wand for air, an athame for fire, a cup for water, and a pentacle for earth. Other Pagan practitioners reverse the wand and athame, more closely resembling the Golden Dawn arrangement.
Personally, I recommend to begin with the basic components used in the Golden Dawn's magical Eucharist; a red rose for air, a cup of wine, a candle for fire, and bread and salt for Earth.
See...
"YOU CAN SET UP A GOLDEN DAWN STYLE ALTAR WITH NOTHING MORE THAN A FEW THINGS AVAILABLE IN MOST KITCHENS." - DAVID GRIFFINWhat really matters is that you PRACTICE magic, then practice, practice, and practice even more. Try to set aside an hour a day for your magical practice if you can.
You will quickly see for yourself how much it helps to have a dedicated space for your magical practice. You do not need an entire room for this, although that would be ideal. When an entire room is not possible, you can always store your altar in a corner of a room, then bring it out when you are ready to practice. With time you will begin to feel a sense of awe, a sense of the sacred, merely by entering into your personal temple space.
Our first goal with this 1,000 Points of Light initiative, is to motivate you to create your own personal temple, and to help individual practitioners to create 1,000 new personal temples around the world. Can you imagine the power for spiritual growth that will be generated by 1,000 new personal temples all around the world?
... And there is no better way to motivate ourselves to create a beautiful personal temple than to share the fruit of our work with others. The Alpha Omega therefore invites you to send us a photograph of your personal temple once it is set up, and we will publish it for you here on the Golden Dawn Blog!
What better way to learn and to gain inspiration from one another?
We begin here with one photo we recently received from a solo practitioner in Australia, the beauty of which motivated the A.O. to create the 1,000 Points of Light initiative.
Personal Temple in Melborne, Australia
Again, we invite you to share your personal temple here as well. Just tell us what city you are in, and we will put you on the map!
You can also send us a photo of your personal temple and we will publish it to share it with readers here on The Golden Dawn Blog. (Please try to keep the file size somewhat small. Please also let us know if you would also like your name or motto to appear. Otherwise, we will include only the city).
Watch this blog for other exciting news and valuable resources for Independent Practitioners of the Magic of Light!
Coming Soon...
Sincerely,
GOLDEN DAWN IMPERATOR David Griffin
HOGD, AO, 33, 90, 96
The cards are not to be sold without the book.
If the book can be printed without illustrations it need not
cost more than [L]300.
If Lady Harris likes, she can give it away with the cards, I do
not want any money out of it: and she can say she wrote it, I don't
care.
But I will not allow the cards to be issued so that they can be
used only for gambling or fortune-telling.
The new catalogue, full of grotesque blunders which discredit
the scholarship of the Work, must be withdrawn.
.PA
[Actually written by Crowley, to himself; the "Society" is
fictitious as such.]
An open letter to Alestair Crowley
SOCIETY OF HIDDEN MASTERS
Dear Sir
For many years we have watched your career with benevolent
interest; wile we have been unable to approve many of your
activities in particular your policy of revealing secret knowledge
which we consider dangerous if in the possession of untrained and
uninitiated people. We have always respected your passionate
integrity, your fanatical (and in our opinion, indiscreet) love of
Truth.
I our view, this mistaken policy has been responsible for many
of your own personal mishaps. For this reason we re surprised that
you should acquiesce, even by silence, in so blatant and impudent a
hoax as the exhibition of Tarot Cards at the Royal Society of
Painters in Water Colours, 26/7 Conduit Street, W.1. beginning 4th
August 1942.
We hereby challenge you to deny any of the statements here
following:--
1. During the winter of 1898/9 you were entrusted by the Order of
A..A.. with the Secret Lecture on the Tarot, giving the initiated
attributions.
2. You published these attributions at the command of the Secret
Chiefs of the order in a Book of Reference numbered 777 in 1909.
3. You issued the Official Lecture of the Order on the Tarot, in the
Equinox Vol. I Nos VII and VIII, March and September 1912.
4. You have made the Tarot your continual study and used it daily,
since the Winter of 1898/9.
5. You have made the Tarot the skeleton or schema of all your
writings on mystical and magical subjects. We would instance
particularly "Ambrosia", "Magi Hortus Rosarum" (The Wake-World),
"The Vision and the Voice", "Theory and Practice of Magick".
6. You have been recognized everywhere in Europe and America (even,
to a less extent, in India) as the supreme Authority on the Tarot;
that is, by serious students of the subject.
7. You have contemplated the construction and publication of a
properly designed and executed pack, based on the Equinox
information ever since the issue of the grotesque and falsified
parody which appeared under the auspices of the later A.E. Waite.
6. In a series of conversations in 1937 beginning at Mr. Clifford
Bax' chambers in Albany St., W.1., you suggested to Lady Harris that
she might be able to carry out this work. Although she very rightly
protested that her knowledge of the subject hardly extended beyond
the name, you, with the imbecile optimism characteristic of you,
persuaded her that the descriptions of the cards given in the
Equinox would be sufficient guide, and persuaded her to make the
attempt.
9. It became obvious almost at once that the Equinox designs were
artistically impracticable. Lady Harris very properly asked you to
take the whole subject in hand ab ovo esque ad umbilicum. You
thereupon agreed to devote your whole knowledge to the work of
designing an entirely original pack of cards, incorporating the
results of your 39 years of constant study of the subject with your
profound--if at times unacceptably unorthodox--knowledge of
comparative religion, mathematical physics, philosophy and Magick.
Also nthat you should compose a Treatise explaining the subject in
full. It appears from a notice in the Exhibition that there is a
proposal to publish the cards as a pack without this book. To do so
would limit their use to fortune-telling, a form of fraud against
which you have constantly set your face your whole life long. We
refuse to believe that you have now consented to prostitute the
Sacred Wisdom of Thoth to this base and dishonest purpose and we
insist upon this point being made clear.
10. On May 11, 1938, Lady Harris became officially your disciple,
and was permitted to affiliate to the other Order of which you are
Head, the O.T.O.
11. You made an agreement with Lady Harris by which you were to have
a 66 2/3% interest in the work.
12. For the next four years approximately, Lady Harris prepared
water-colours of the cards. She did this from your rough sketches
and descriptions under your continual direction, subject to your
constant and repeated corrections. In some cases you made her redraw
and re-paint a card which you found unsatisfactory as many as five
or six times. She has, when left to herself, no sense of dignify or
congruity; one of us has seen some attempts which you rejected, for
instance, her ideal figure for "The Fool", the Holy Ghost, was Harpo
Marx. Did you really pass this and Trump I? She gave the Sphinx in
Trump X a French cabahy sabre! And her first conception of "The Lord
of the Winds and the Breezes; the King of the Spirits of the Air",
was a clown in plate armour, waving rapier and dagger, sprawling
over a demented nag, diving through a paper screen in a circus!
13. You left Lady Harris a comparatively free hand in respect of
insignificant details; but at no time did she contribute a single
idea of any kind to any card, and she is in fact almost as ignorant
of the Tarot and its true meaning and use as when she began. We
cannow however, blame you for this.
14. You have followed with as much fidelity as was possible the
traditional designs of the mediaeval packs; but you have notably
enriched and revivified some of them, especially the Trumps, with
your scholarship, as observed above in paragraph 9.
15. In every trump you have not only incorporated symbols
illustrating the doctrines of Payne Knight, Hargrave Jennings,
Arthur Eddington, J.G. Frazer, Bertrand Russell, J.W.N. Sullivan,
Eliphaz Levi and how many others! --but introduced very many ideas
purely personal to yourself and based on your own personal magical
experience--see "The Vision and the Voice", "The Paris Working" etc.
16. In certain cases, in order to make sure that your doctrine of
the New Aeon is clearly manifest as the spiritual-magical basis of
the whole work, you have given new names to the cards. Notably
Trumps XI, XIV, and numerous "small" cards. You have made the final
correction to the attributions--Trumps IV and XVII, according to the
Book fo the Law given to you in Cairo April 8, 9, and 10 1904. You
have used "The Stele of Revealing" (see "The Book of the Law" Chap.
I 49, III 19) to replace "The Last Judgment" (Trump XX) to affirm
the supersession of the Aeon of Osiris the Dying God by that of
Horus the Crowned and Conquering Child. The entire composition is
soaked in and reeks of your own private and personal point of view
with regard to Magick.
17. You undertook this Work with two main motives:--
1. That it should serve as a Magical Atlas of and Guide to the
Universe, for this "New Aeon of Horus", that is, for the next
2,000 years.
2. That its undeniable beauty and majesty should be an
intelligible vindication of the whole of your life's work.
You rightly foresaw that sooner or later it would be clear
that you are the sole responsible author of the Work and Lady
Harris only your more or less docile and intelligent
instrument.
18. You and Lady Harris were at first agreed that the Work should be
put forth anonymously. She wrote to a friend "I intend to remain
anonymous when the cards are shown". You had, of course, pointed out
that any student of the subject would recognise your authorship at a
glance.
19. Too well aware that in the past your work has been stolen and
exploited by unscrupulous rascals and also that doctrinal argument
of a lightly technical kind may all too frequently prove rather hard
for a jury, you took the precaution of introducing certain symbols
into the designs of susch a character that the most stupid would be
compelled to acknowledge your authorship of the Work.
Your conduct is abominable and inexcusable to allow Lady Harris
to issue a catalogue crammed with the grossest errors of fact,
blunders of scholarsip, irrelevancies and absurdities; to allow her
to make herself the laughing-stock of London by larying claim to the
authorship of pictures of which all artists know her to be utterly
incapable, her work having been that of a wealthy amateur persistent
enough to acquire a good technique but with no personality, no
"message" groping in Bloomsbury forgs for the parasitic adulation of
a gaggle of sycophants.
We can understand your passionate wish to get these cards
exhibited, even by a subterfuge, but you had no right to sacrifice
Lady Harris and you have no right to lend yourself, even by silence
to the perpetration of a hoax transparent and nausient as it must
naturally be, which affects the honour of the Fraternity of Art and
Letters.
We repeat that we are surprised; for whatever your faults, you
have always been honourable and truthful with more than ancient
Roman rigour. You must speak now.
for the Society of Hidden Masters.
Justus M.
Sic vos non vobis.
Sunur evique.
.PA
[1st page of letter missing--this is Crowley's "reply" to the letter
from the Society of Hidden Masters.]
Their estimate in paragraph 6 is exaggerated: it depends on the
definition of "serious students."
Nor would it be useful to deny them, as in every case their
truth is guaranteed by evidence independent of my asseveration,
internal evidence of documents easily accessible.
"I do however most strenuously deny participation in the hoax.
This was perpetrated by Lady Harris without my knowledge or consent;
I only learnt of the exhibitions, in the first case several days
after the opening, from information supplied by loyal friends.
This letter is to authorize and to request you to publicize its
substance, either by a letter addressed to the Times and other
newspapers, or as you in your best judgment may see fit.
Believe me,
Gentlemen,
Yours faithfully,
Aleister Crowley
In response to my most recent blog, on Lineage and the Golden Dawn, the anonymous Mr. "James Crumpit" (mr crumpit@...) wrote on Robert Zink's Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn forum:
Dear David and "The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Alpha et Omega, etc."Frater TDO" is not a member of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, nor are there any members by the name "VH Soror FSO," so do not take their opinions as those of our order. Also, this forum is not the EOGD forum, but is a talk box for the GD community hosted by the EOGD. Furthermore, I don't know why you make any noise about lineage, when you and your order (with the overly lengthy name which you were forced to change to per court order) have absolutely no legitimate lineage to
speak of.
You can't claim lineage through Israel Regardie, nor do you (anymore). You founded your own version of the third order, which you currently claim lineage through, which doesn't count as lineage since you founded it yourself. Also you can't claim lineage to Mathers because you have the address of a Masonic Hall he worked in for a period and rent the building now and again to perform your garage-style version of Golden Dawn ceremonies.
Get off the lineage kick. Nobody buys it. Repeating yourself over and over doesn't make your points any more valid.
J.C.
p.s. wow I made a point without having to write an overly lengthy novela/dizzying blog.There are numerous problems with the statement where Mr. Crumpit writes: "FRATER TDO" IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE ESOTERIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN, NOR ARE THERE ANY MEMBERS BY THE NAME "VH SOROR FSO," SO DO NOT TAKE THEIR OPINIONS AS THOSE OF OUR ORDER.TO BEGIN WITH, SOROR FSO IS WELL KNOWN ON THE BLOGOSPHERE AS A MEMBER OF THE ESOTERIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN THROUGH HER FLIGHT OF HERMES BLOG. MOREOVER, ALTHOUGH THEY CLEARLY HAVE HAD OPPORTUNITY TO DO SO, NEITHER FRATER TDO NOR SOROR FSO HAVE PERSONALLY DENIED MEMBERSHIP IN THE EOGD. WE HAVE ONLY "JAMES CRUMPIT'S" ANONYMOUS WORD FOR THIS, ALTHOUGH HE DOES APPARENTLY SPEAK WITH SOME AUTHORITY REGARDING EOGD MEMBERSHIP ROLLS.MOST IMPORTANTLY, EACH of the above referenced blog posts were personally approved by Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn leader, Robert Zink, using his Yahoo alias, Zanoni49. In other words, ALL of the posts in question were published with both the "knowledge" and the "approval" of the highest levels of EOGD leadership. Nonetheless, in the interest of harmony in the Golden Dawn community, I have edited the content my latest blog to answer the objection raise by EOGD's mysterious "Mr. Crumpit."What appears undeniable from James Crumpit's post is that HE, at least, is indeed a member of the EOGD. Moreover, since complete membership rolls are not available to the vast majority of EOGD members, J.C.'s claim of intimate knowledge of EOGD membership rolls indicates even a leadership role. This official sanction is further underscored, since Mr. Crumipt's post also was published with the full "knowledge" and "approval" of the highest levels of EOGD leadership. It was personally approved by EOGD leader, Robert Zink (Zanoni49), himself.In this context, the following statements made by the mysterious Mr. Crumpit become extremely interesting. J.C. writes:YOU CAN'T CLAIM LINEAGE THROUGH ISRAEL REGARDIE, NOR DO YOU (ANYMORE). YOU FOUNDED YOUR OWN VERSION OF THE THIRD ORDER, WHICH YOU CURRENTLY CLAIM LINEAGE THROUGH, WHICH DOESN'T COUNT AS LINEAGE SINCE YOU FOUNDED IT YOURSELF. ALSO YOU CAN'T CLAIM LINEAGE TO MATHERS BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE ADDRESS OF A MASONIC HALL HE WORKED IN FOR A PERIOD AND RENT THE BUILDING NOW AND AGAIN TO PERFORM YOUR GARAGE-STYLE VERSION OF GOLDEN DAWN CEREMONIES.Many of J. Crumpit's misunderstandings about our order's actual relationship to Golden Dawn lineage I have dealt with already in a recent blog. I will address the remaining ones in a future blog as well. What is most interesting - in the present context - is JC's erroneous statement that our order somehow claims lineageTHROUGH A BUILDING OR MASONIC HALL. This is very significant, BECAUSE THIS ARGUMENT HAS APPEARED NOWHERE ELSE EXCEPT ON ANONYMOUS WEBSITES AND BLOGS ATTACKING OUR ORDER AND MYSELF WITH DEFAMATION OF A MOST DESPICABLE NATURE.This is a strong indication that these anonymous websites and blogs have likewise been published with the "knowledge" and "approval" of Robert Zink. To make this point crystal clear, let us first compare JC's above statement with Blog Troll "Tommy," who writes on the anonymously published Golden Dawn Insider attack blog:HOW CAN YOU CLAIM LINEAGE THROUGH A BUILDING when your order's website clearly places emphasis on apostolic succession. Let us also compare JC's above statement with the words of another recent anonymous blog troll, "Frater Incognito," who writes on yet another anonymously published attack blog:THEY CLAIM THEIR LINEAGE THROUGH A MASONIC HALL that Mathers and company had worked in when he moved to Paris. To CLAIM LINEAGE THROUGH A BUILDING, particularly one that has had no Golden Dawn activity for nearly a century, is a rather interesting claim.Our order, of course, has ever claimed any sort of lineage through any sort of building, Masonic or otherwise. It is extremely telling, however, that the only places that this misleading argument has ever appeared has been on the on the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn Yahoo forum belonging to Robert Zink and on anonymously published websites and blogs attacking our order. This provides an Ariadne's tread - piercing the veil of anonymity - and leading directly to Robert Zink.This is not the first time that Robert Zink has been linked to such defamation either. The most compelling evidence of comes from the official EOGD, "Golden Dawn Blog" where blog owner, Robert Zink, using his alias as Frater PDR, slipped up and wrote:FOR ALLEGED EVIDENCE OF GOLDEN DAWN NAZISM, CLICK HERE: HTTP://HOGD666.50MEGS.COMIT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT MR. ZINK SANITIZED HIS EOGD BLOG OF THIS POST AFTER THE GOLDEN DAWN COMMUNITY BECAME AWARE THAT IT LINKED MR. ZINK DIRECTLY TO THE ANONYMOUS DEFAMATION WEBSITES AND BLOGS ATTACKING THE HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN, THE OUTER ORDER OF THE ROSICRUCIAN ORDER OF ALPHA ET OMEGA. HERE ARE ORIGINAL IMAGES OF RELEVANT PORTIONS OF ROBERT ZINK'S - NOW SANITIZED - BLOG POST:IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE CONTENT OF THE 50MEGS SITE THAT ROBERT ZINK LINKED TO - WAS NEARLY IDENTICAL AS THAT PRESENTLY ON THE ANONYMOUS ATTACK BLOG OF TODAY'S "FRATER INCOGNITO."SUCH NONSENSE HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH. ROBERT ZINK CLEARLY BELIEVES THAT BY PUBLISHING SUCH FEAR-MONGERING RUBBISH, HE CAN FRIGHTEN POTENTIAL MEMBERS AWAY FROM OUR ORDER AND INTO HIS. SUCH FEAR-MONGERING TACTICS, HOWEVER, HAVE NO PLACE IN ORDERS HAVING TO DO WITH SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT AND ARE HARMING THE REPUTATION OF THE ENTIRE GOLDEN DAWN TRADITION.THERE IS, OF COURSE, NO TRUTH IN ANY OF THIS EITHER. THE TRUTH IS THAT NAZIS, LIKE CULT-LIKE ACTIVITIES, HAVE NO PLACE IN THE GOLDEN DAWN. THE GOLDEN DAWN IS NOT ABOUT RACE, CREED, OR COLOR. THE GOLDEN DAWN IS ABOUT HELPING PEOPLE TO DEVELOP THEMSELVES SPIRITUALLY...... AND IN TRUTH OUR ORDER, LIKE ALL GOLDEN DAWN ORDERS, IS OPEN TO ASPIRANTS OF ALL races and religions - even of all sexual preferences. We have all sorts of members - Black, White, Pagan, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Gay, Lesbian, you name it.But then again, the defamation trolls have never let the truth stand in the way of their fear-mongering. The aforementioned anonymously published attack website definitively linked to Robert Zink, for example, (like many other anonymous attack sites and blogs) shows a cropped photograph of me dressed up like Adolph Hitler and claiming to be "proof" I am a Nazi."
This is, of course, complete nonsense. It is common knowledge in the Golden Dawn community that I care deeply about the environment - and passionately about the protection of species from extinction - and that this photograph originally appeared on the front page of the University of California at Berkeley newspaper......and was taken at an environmental protest that I was involved in. This was a street theater environmental action - and I was in character - SPOOFING Adolph Hitler, mocking racism, and calling for interracial and global unity tosave the Earth fromenvironmental holocaust.
I am as much as a Nazi for playing Hitler - as is fellow actor Sir Alec Guiness - who played both Hitler and Obi Wan Kanobi - or Sir Ian McKellen - who played both Hitler and Gandalf! Let's be real. You can't be remotely anti-Semitic and embrace the Jewish mysteries that are part of the Golden Dawn. Racism is a destructive philosophy not only against my beliefs, but also against my vows, and against the Golden Dawn.What doesn't seem to be against some people's beliefs, vows, or love for the Golden Dawn, however - is defamation and attack on the reputation of the Golden Dawn. For what? So that seekers won't realize how little these people know about basic the deeper mysteries of the Golden Dawn? Do these people not realize that they are harming the reputation of the entire Golden Dawn tradition?... or do they simply not care - because they see the GD as little more than a vehicle to promote "New Age" seminars?If this were not sad enough - recent months have seen theentire Golden Dawn community attacked by outside agitators on new attack blogs - alleging that all Golden Dawn orders are Nazi fronts and linked to the Greek fascist party calling itself Golden Dawn (Chrysi Ayvi).Is it not time for such madness to stop once and for all? I get boiling mad at when Golden Dawn initiates are attacked no matter who it is being attacked. For example, I recently defended the brothers and sisters of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn when Pat Zalewksi published the following post on his OGD forum:GENERALLY SPEAKING, THE BEST WAY TO (CHOOSE A GD ORDER) IS TO LOOK AT THE WEBSITES OF THE ORDERS INVOLVED, AND WRITE TO THE ONES IN WHICH YOU'RE INTERESTED. MY ONLY WARNING WOULD BE TO BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL! THERE ARE SOME CULTS OUT THERE MASQUERADING AS GOLDEN DAWN ORDERS, and the only way you'll ever really know is by trusting your intuition AND keeping your wits about you at all times.Pat Zalewski then went on and wrote himself:NONE OF WHAT IS ASKED OF A STUDENT SHOULD BE AGAINST THEIR MORAL AND LEGAL OBLIGATIONS. THIS IS USUALLY CIRCUMVENTED IN SOME GROUPS BY A STATEMENT THAT THE SECRET CHIEFS HAVE SANCTIONED IT- LIKE FATWA OR PAPAL BULL. WE HAVE ALL HEARD OF INCIDENTS LIKE THIS AND THEY HAVE NO PLACE IN THE GD TEMPLE AND ARE FOR A GD CULT.PatThis kind of nonsense has gone on far too long. We have all seen the anonymous attack blogs out there like the Golden Dawn Observer and the Cult Watch blog that call the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn a cult. These are, of course, just as condemnable as those calling our order a nest of Nazis! And now that are seeing not just our order -but the ENTIRE Golden Dawn community being called nests of Nazi's! What will be next? Outside forces calling all Golden Dawn orders cults? The Golden Dawn is already on the official French list of sects.Under present circumstances, I find it extremely short-sighted for Pat Zalewksi to be making posts like the one above. In reality, we all know that there are no cults in the Golden Dawn - just like there are no Nazis - because - if you ARE a cult - if you ARE a Nazi - you are NOT Golden Dawn!If an order using the name Golden Dawn practices cult-like activity - they are NOTGolden Dawn! There are no Golden Dawn cults! Just like a racist Greek group using the name Golden Dawn for their fascism - isNOT Golden Dawn!Pat Zalewski instead of spreading false and harmful rumors about GD cults - should instead clarify that there are NO cults in the Golden Dawn and outright reject any order doing that - as NOT part of the Golden Dawn - instead of scaring people into believing there are "Golden Dawn Nazis" or "Golden Dawn Cults" - when any such groups are evidently NOT the Golden Dawn.You will recall that, for several months now, the HOGD/AO has been calling for greater harmony in the Golden Dawn community. We have invited all Brother and Sister GD initiates to a Golden Dawn Harmony celebration to be hosted next Vernal Equinox by the Ahathoor Temple in Paris. This invitation still stands. We have also invited all Golden Dawn leaders to contact us to negotiate the mutual removal of objectionable materials from our respective websites, fora, and blogs. To their credit - until last week - both Robert Zink and Pat Zalewksi had joined together with our order for several months - in not approving any posts attacking other Golden Dawn orders or their leaders. It is most unfortunate that attack posts are beginning to appear on the various Yahoo fora once again. It is even more unfortunate that neither Robert Zink nor Pat Zalewski have so far shown any willingness whatsoever to begin - together with our order - to remove on a reciprocal basis - objectionable materials from our respective fora, websites, and blogs.The importance of beginning such a clean-up has been underscored by the appearance in recent months of anonymous blogs attacking all Golden Dawn orders - falsely linking them to the Greek fascist party unfortunately also using the Golden Dawn name.Let there be no doubt about it - We are ALL under attack - every single brother and sister of every Golden Dawn order. Striving for harmony in the Golden Dawn community has never been more important than it is now - in light of recent, terrible attacks on the ENTIRE Golden Dawn community.And certainly - there is no longer ANY room whatsoever for the sort of fear mongering tactics that have been linked for years to Robert Zink.The time has come for Robert Zink to abandon such failed policies - and instead to stand together with ALL Golden Dawn leaders - in fact with ALL Brothers and Sisters in ALL Golden Dawn orders everywhere - in a united front against defamation of any part of the Golden Dawn community.To do otherwise - to ignore this clear and present threat to the reputation of the ENTIRE Golden Dawn community - may well spell the doom of the of the entire Golden Dawn.Sub Umbra Alarum Tuarum, Yeheshua
David GriffinG.
H. Frater Lux Ex Septentrionis
Imperator Ordinis, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega
"Ex Deo Nascimur.
In Yeheshua Morimur.
Per Sanctum Spiritum Reviviscimus"
Some people are born warriors, be them physically, or mentally strong. Some rely on their leadership qualities and/or their power of persuasion. Others chose to be pacifists and go through life following that maxima how nice ( magick ) word opens the iron doors. No mental ( physical even less ) profile of human being is perfect, and will not guarantee victory over other, as such. Yet we are faced with so many enemies, drawn willingly or unwillingly into so many fights, verbal, physical, magickal etc. Where does it all ends, if it ends at all ? Both Charles Darwin and Sigmund Freud ( with smaller differences ) claimed humans are by nature selfish and lead by self-preservation instinct before all. Freud called that "idd". Oddly enough, in the age when human mind is supposed to be evolved above profanity of animal behavior, we find ourselves growling on each other, threatening with "fangs" and claiming absolute possession over partners, or territory. The fact that our behavior is "wrapped in pink ribbon" does not make it any less animalistic. Because of all that, those of more kind nature, those lunatics, and teding towards servility might find themselves faced to roar of some large gnarly beasty human, and forced into "survival of the strongest" clich'e.
This is why ( where, when, read as You like lol ) magick designed to empower oneself, boost our courage, physical strength or stamina, defeat opponents, is needed and very much alive even nowadays. Liked it we or not, world is a jungle, and in jungle strength is an imperative. When faced to any type of battle/s, or frightening mission with uncertain outcome, Mars magick can come quite handy indeed. Drawings depicting hunt, dating to prehistoric times and stone age, are perhaps the very simple examples of sympathetic, warrior type magick. Before actually hunting down an animal, cave man would "conjure" the even on the walls using charcoal or whatever worked as fine drawing tool at that point. But instead of further pseudo-phylospohic rambling of mine, let's rather "get down on the business" as people from States would say
MAGICK OF EMPOWERMENT AND CORRESPONDENCES
Warrior magick, as I coved the name ( yeah, not that good at name coving :/ lol ) is not the same as battle, war magick or offensive magick. It's the magick of self empowerment and increasing our chances to win.
Corresponding element would be fire ( action, power among other attributes ), corresponding planet Mars, corresponding day Tueseday, noon as the time of day is most preferable for such operations, while colors include red and purple, and symbols anything from swords to pentacles of King Solomon.
The symbol from the above pictur e is brilliant for such Mars/empowerment type of magick and can be inscribed to candlesa and burnt
Additionally Saturn correspodneces can be used, particularly if we are to deal with offensive magick, or unjust and cruel opponent.
FIERY WARRIOR SPELL
This spell should be used when we want to attain fiery, and strong qualities, prior to some important battle, confrontation and alike. Should it be a debate or rhetorical type of "battle" rather try some Mercury spell. I wrote this spell, as typical fire spell, hence the effect is like the spell, powerful, abrupt and temporary
You will need
o The fourth pentacle of Mars drawn on piece of brown paper
o Some Borage
o Red Onion peals
o Ginger rhizome small piece
o Few cloves
o Pinch of black pepper
o Your own personal concern ( a single hair will do )
o Red candle with inscribed with appropriate symbol/s
o Fireproof dish, and some ignitable spirit ( cologne for example )
Best if all the herbs are very dry, and the best time to start the spell is Midday or in the hour of the Mars. Light the candle, and place the dish with charcoal ( larger censer could do ) in front of it. Now place the personal concern of Yours ( or party's You are performing spell for ) on a paper with Pentacle drawn on it, add herbs, as much as You see fit, and then wrap it all in small package ( a sachet maybe ), folding towards oneself f as You do. Pour the ignitable spirit into dish, and then set the sachet alight, release it into the dish, and say the words :
"This timid soul craves for courage and strength,
To carry the sword of any length
Spirits of Mars, aid and ignite this charm,
Inflame my/this spirit for one day time
Turn me/him/her/them into fiery knight
Until once again, morn defeats the night !"
Sprinkle some of the resulting liquid or ash, on the sole of Your shoes.
WARRIORS MOJO BAG
In New Orleans Voodoo Hoodoo, for empowering and giving power to fight off enemies, especially to meek and timid, Papa Gator gris gris, is suggested as suitable charm. I can only assume the ingredients of such gris gris, and I think it's safe to assume it contains alligator's teeth among other.
In terms of Hoodoo You can compose a brilliant mojo combining some ( or all ) of the following:
o Masterwort
o Master of the Woods
o Dev*l's shoestring
o High John TC root
o Sampson snake root
o Bay laurel leaf/s
In purple or red mojo bag. A small sword charm could be added as well. Feed with spirit ( whiskey ) that had Red hot chili peppers dipped in, or perhaps some suitable oil, such as "I can You can't", "High John TC oil", "Victory oil" etc.
If You'd like to make, more of a charm bag type of "mojo", combine any of the following into red pouch bag : High John TC root, Master of the woods, Cinnamon, Cloves, Ginger, Black pepper, Sampson snake Black cohosh, Thyme, Borage, Red Onion, Iron nail, Garnet, Ruby, Aventurine, Carneol, Sun stone, Mars symbols, Dragon blood resin, Sword charms etc., and of course carry on Your behalf, for steady and graduate effect.
WARRIORS OINTMENT
I wrote this formula based on Indian herbal lore, as if anyone knows their warrior magick, native American Indians do
o Ointment base ( shortening, Vaseline, equal mixture of oil and wax warmed in double boiler, scentless ointment or cr`eme etc )
o Dev*l shoestrings ( oil infusion or powdered roots )
o Bay Laurel
o Sampson snake root ( powdered, or even tincture should do in a pinch )
Combine to make ointment, used to give one better strength, stamina and empower muscles. Use on oneself, very good for sport competitions.
POTIONS AND MAGICKAL ELIXIRS OF BRAVERY AND STRENGTH
Be them ingestible or baths and sprinkles, potions for courage and strength, can be very dicverse. They can be used to, almost instantly energize, and for such You may combine equal parts of ginger rhizome infusion with orange juice and solar honey.
Or they can be used to give courage to meek, and ward off that paralyzing fear. Simple borage infused in red wine will do that. Or tea made of pinch of Black cohosh and some Thyme, and spring water.
Velerie Worth suggests combining apple cider with cloves, and cinnamon as a potion to make someone "strong as steal", enchanting the potion by means of a very cunning rhyme, in one of her brilliant books
Catch some of the waterfall ( or substitute with spring water ) and pour in a vessel that you will place it on "Helm of Awe" rune, exposed to rays of rising Sun. Just sprinkle Yourself, or/and drink small amount to be "invincible" in battle
A nice bath made with Master of the Woods, should enable one mastery over adverse conditions.
A simple "Four thieves vinegar" as salad dressing, when used with intention of course will empower and ward of malice at same time. Same can be achieved by disolving a spoon of it in a glass of water to drink.
NOTES : This article and spells and formulas given here, were written by myself, which means, if You'd like to use it elswhere, feel free, but add credit/s Shadow of Shadows magick place, or Shadow-333@hotmail.com or provide a link fof this post.
CREDITS : Valerie Worth's "Book of Words", for complete formula
Helm of Awe can be found in bindrunes section of www.sunnyway.com/runes
Hope You find this helpful, to go and kick some...well something lol :)
Many Blessings, Shadow :)
Suggested ebooks:
Anonymous - Thelema A New Spiritual Tradition For A New Age
Israel Regardie - The Art And Meaning Of Magic
I got my first copy of the Golden Dawn book edited by Israel Regardie when it became a single volume. I can remember for a few years prior coveting the two volume version with its own slip case, but it was beyond my ability to afford. It was the great prize for anyone who sought to learn ritual or ceremonial magick, and was carefully displayed behind glass so it wouldn't get stolen. The new Llewellyn edition was a single hardcover volume with a splashy colorful cover, but the price was right, and the old two volume edition was no longer in print. I bought the new version, back in the early autumn of 1975, and eagerly took it home to extract all of its secrets. I found that task to be nearly impossible, since my nascent intellectual skills weren't really up to the task. I might have been a twenty year old adult, but my ability to read through hundreds of pages of arcane lore was a bit too much for my reading skills at the time. It would seem that I needed some background in order to fully master this lore.
After I joined the Coven from Hell, I was taught most of the material from the Golden Dawn book, except perhaps the initiation rituals, and that included the Qabbalah, the Enochian material and the basic rituals. Once shown how these rituals worked, I immediately began to incorporate them into my own ritual work. In less than a year, I had my own versions of these rituals, but of them, only the Superior Pentagram, Superior Hexagram, the Middle Pillar, Qabalistic Cross and the Rose Cross rituals were used. The hexagram was soon replaced by the septagram, which I had always preferred, but those other four rituals were seamlessly incorporated into my magickal repertoire. I did fail to figure out how to use the lesser pentagram and hexagram rituals in conjunction with the superior rites, so I never mastered the Golden Dawn methodology for performing elemental, planetary and zodiacal magick. Instead, over time, I invented my own independent system of magick, but the rituals, structures and devices were expropriated from the Golden Dawn. This is because there wasn't any Golden Dawn organization for me to join, and to this day I remained an outsider to that tradition.
So it would seem that I used, in a rather cavalier manner, some of the magickal rituals of the Golden Dawn, some of the Enochian materials and pretty much ignored the rest. Since I had books from Aleister Crowley, I found that a combination of Crowley and the Golden Dawn seemed to help me fill in the void. Between these two authors, I was able to expand my knowledge and capability to craft and build my own personal system of magick. I was, in a word, an occult lore pirate, and both Israel Regardie and Aleister Crowley facilitated that plundering. I am sure that many others have found this published material both useful and practical, however, others within the Golden Dawn tradition have called both of them oath breakers. Had they not published the material from the Golden Dawn, I probably wouldn't have been able to craft the magickal system that I did eventually derive. So I owe a debt of gratitude to these two individuals who are not honored in some of the more traditional Golden Dawn circles.
Since that time, I have moved on and now use my own tried and true ritual structures, devices and components, all of which are now far removed from the Golden Dawn tradition. I have also refrained from purchasing any materials that are supposedly culled from secret documents that are still in use by that order. I have done this out of respect for the active tradition of the Golden Dawn, and because this lore would obviously not be particularly relevant to me or my organization. Thus, I wouldn't bother seeking to purchase any of the revelatory books published by either Farrell or Zelewski, since I feel that such published works are quite disrespectful to those who are working within a living tradition of the Golden Dawn.
I am also quite cold to anyone writing a history of the Golden Dawn where the founders, such as Westcott and Mathers, and others, are reviled as frauds or shown to be incompetent. Years ago I read Ellic Howe's book "Magicians of the Golden Dawn" and considered it a harsh and even scurrilous biography of that organization. I have no illusions as to the follies, flaws and failings of individuals and humanity in general, but I think that I would rather focus on the accomplished work of such individuals instead of attempting to judge them many decades after their death. This is why I consider Aleister Crowley to be an important writer and contributor to western occultism regardless of how he behaved or what kind of man he was while alive. So, for me, these individuals are judged by their work and their legacy. If they left behind writings that I find important to my own occult work, then I will judge them as a valuable resource, and nothing more. I think that its pretty tough to judge someone without personally knowing them, and even harder to judge someone who has been dead for a long time.
Whatever I think of the original founders of the Golden Dawn must therefore be based entirely on their work. There is so little historical information about Mathers that his life story has become something of a cipher that holds nearly any opinion, from the gloriously good to the vilifyingly evil. Aleister Crowley painted a picture of Mathers that was very dark and disturbing in the so called fictional work "Moon Child," and Dion Fortune supposedly accused Mina Mathers of having cursed her. I think that both of these opinions are likely fictional creations that do a great injustice to both of these individuals. If I were to judge the founders of the Golden Dawn, it would be to venerate them, since the Golden Dawn lore was so ahead of its time and such a radical departure from anything that had been practiced in the 19th century up to that time. I would have to consider Mathers, Westcott and others to be creative geniuses, since the Golden Dawn lore was so advanced. The fact that the rituals and documents of the Golden Dawn are still relevant today, in the early 21st century, should demonstrate just how advanced the lore was back when it was first presented to members of that order. To members of the order back in the early 1890's, the lore must seemed like something totally radical!
Some have said that the founders of the Golden Dawn were frauds or incompetent, and that their vision of the world, populated with rare encounters with flesh and blood advanced high adepts is a myth or a delusion. I think that the Golden Dawn lore speaks for itself, since either the founders were incredible geniuses, or that they had help from other unnamed individuals. These mysterious personages would have been quite enlightened and likely members of an elite organization, which was called the Third Order. Either perspective shows that Mathers, for all his supposed flaws and social issues, was a true adept and facilitator for even higher adepts (visible or invisible), since he was, after all, a man, and the lore that he presented to his order was beyond anything previously seen in the western world. For this reason alone, I venerate Mather's unwitting contribution to the occult world, which is his legacy, and I also venerate the Golden Dawn. I may not be a member, but as an outsider, I can easily see its long term value.
Frater Barrabbas
Suggested ebooks:
Michael Osiris Snuffin - Aleister Crowley And The Legend Of Pasiphae
Kenneth Grant - Aleister Crowley And The Hidden God
