The exoteric vs. the esoteric Golden Dawn

A LEADER of the counter-traditionalist “Golden Dawn Community” recently asked for textual evidence that S. L. MacGregor Mathers in fact had been in communication with the Secret Chiefs in the form of written letters from both MacGregor Mathers and presumably Lux e Tenebris. Not only has this leader taken this question out of its proper context and into an entire different field. He also betrays his profound ignorance of how esoteric orders are supposed to be worked. 

He wants to study academically that which cannot be studied academically, i.e. the existence of the Secret Chiefs and their Secret Collage. He wants to read letters written by them addressed to MacGregor Mathers. He will never be satisfied in this respect though as MacGregor Mathers was very clear about the fact that he communicated with them only in person, either in the physical or astrally. It wasn’t like they kept minutes from their meetings and such.

Instruction from the Third Order is always orally conferred. You only have your own notes and whatever you are able to remember in your head to rely on, something that must never come to the knowledge of the profane and in particular fall into the hands of academic scholars. Never. Period.

This was also the supposed intention of all proceedings in traditional esoteric Orders such as that of the Golden Dawn and the Alpha Omega. All personal notes were supposed to be returned on command and at least after the death of the initiate. Non of the G∴D∴ or A∴O∴ corpus were supposed to fall into the hands of academic scholars. In a similar manner, initiates shouldn’t substitute their status as initiates with that of being academic scholars, as the post-modernist generation of Adepts has succumbed to.

The moment that the G∴D∴ and A∴O∴ curriculum became published it was a grave error; something that was never supposed to happen. The Golden Dawn is not as Freemasonry or any of its bodies, including the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (S.R.I.A.). Freemasonry (and the S.R.I.A.) represents a exoteric initiatory tradition. Historical research thus comes naturally within their own circles and most jurisdictions have research lodges. Freemasonry doesn’t represent a secret organization although their rituals are supposed to be.

The Golden Dawn and Alpha Omega once represented an esoteric initiatory tradition. The Order itself was supposed to be secret and all initiates prohibited to even mention its existence. The existence of the G∴D∴ and A∴O∴ was made semi-public (as with the Gold und Rosenkreutz Orden and the Asiatic Brethren) because they needed to attract a larger circle of members than they had previously, but beyond some ambiguous notes and references in occult magazines and publications, nobody was supposed to know what the words “Golden Dawn” or “Alpha Omega” actually meant or represented. The moment that Aleister Crowley, and soon afterwards Israel Regardie, profaned the G∴D∴ material, it became a exoteric tradition, to be treated as any Freemasonic body.

The irony of it all is that the author that I have reviewed here on this blog, Nick Farrell, who makes a dichotomy between “magical” Golden Dawn and “freemasonic” Golden Dawn, in falling in line with profaners such as Crowley and Regardie, is making the Golden Dawn even more Freemasonic, open to academic scrutiny. It seems as his own Order for all practical purposes is acting as a Golden Dawn research Temple. Why doesn’t all of this surprise me, knowing that the Freemasonic research society and counter-traditional organization known as the S.R.I.A. is the acting “Third Order” of the post-modernist “Golden Dawn Community”? Their own collage of the Adepti are making the Golden Dawn more and more exoteric by the month with their various publications, pushing it into Freemasonry in the process.

Returning to the main issue here raised by the post-modernist leader of the counter-traditionalist “Golden Dawn Community”. It was never a question about proving or disproving the existence of the Secret Chiefs, either in the flesh or the popular post-modernist view of angelic Secret Chiefs who can be channeled into any willing medium. The question which I am debating in my reviews of Nick Farrell’s books is whether MacGregor Mathers, Westcott or Brodie-Innes belived in physical Secret Chiefs or astral ditto, or both. 

However, as the Golden Dawn in the Outer and the R.R. et A.C. (at least to the level of Th.A.M.) since the last Century has been turned into a Freemasonic and exoteric Order, at least that can be researched with a basic level of academic rigour, something that my reviews has prooved is lacking in Nick Farrell’s books.

However, all esoteric levels of the system, i.e. beyond the 5°=6° and especially the true nature beyond the 8°=3°, cannot and will never be. This rules out all academic research about communication with the Secret Chiefs as that properly and still belong to the esoteric level of the Golden Dawn. This post-modernist Golden Dawn leader should know this, which makes his gambit look ridiculus, regardless if he is just playing his usual game of irony or if all of this simply expresses a profound ignorance typical of his generation.

Addendum (2013-07-12)

The Golden Dawn being exoteric up to and including the Theoricus Adeptus Minor (Th.A.M.) sub-grade of the 5°=6° only applies to the older general reformation of 1888. The latest general reformation of 1999 initiated by the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega®, which is still continuing in intervals of decades, has had its purpose of remedying this fact. The reformed Outer Order is properly speaking in a state of “semi-exoteric” status, or “semi-esoteric” depending if you prefer to see a half-full or half-empty cup, as the old initiation rituals has been revised and all old pass-words abrogated and changed to secret (i.e. esoteric) ones. Also, there is currently secret teachings being transmitted to the Outer Order Grades as we speak which are older and predating the Rosicrucian Tradition, still within the Hermetic Tradition, and at the same time the origin and true basis for the later G∴D∴ practicies which are still used today and in the form as outlined in the General Reformation anno 1999, of which I have spoken of before on this blog. 

The reformed Second Order, or the Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis (R.R. et A.C.), is even more esoteric compared to the Outer Order, as the 5°=6° ritual in a similar manner has been revised as with the Outer Order rituals, while its 6°=5° and 7°=4°rituals are completely esoteric being based upon the old and true initiatory formula. The same goes for the curriculum of these Grades, the curriculum and training of the Adepti Grades. The 5°=6° still uses the published R.R. et A.C. formulae of the Magic of Light as parts of its sub-grades, while at the same time presenting age-old esoteric teachings and formulae constituting the majority of its reformed corpus, as well as secret Rosicrucian formulae coming from the 1777 general reformation. This even becomes more expressed in the 6°=5° Grade.

The biggest difference between the 1888 and 1999 reformations is that the First and Second Orders are completly public, compared to the semi-public state of the First Order and secret state of the Second Order a Century ago. This unfortunately has become a fact because of all the profanations made in the past and all of the resulting consequences that we are facing today. Serious students need to be aware of the existance of our Traditionalist Order in our post-modern age of the Kali Yuga, especially in the face of the real and serious danger posed by the Counter-Traditionalist and pseudo-rosicrucian organizations of the “Golden Dawn Community” so-called, who are basing their teachings on whatever that has been published in Golden Dawn related literature or on the left-overs of the New Zeeland branch of the Stella Matutina, collected by post-modernist scavengers, i.e. the abrogated reformation of 1888. In future essays on the Gyllene Gryningen Blog I will write about and properly define the difference between Tradition and Counter-Tradition. So stay tuned!

Addendum (2014-03-13)
 
Since writing this blog yours truly is no longer affiliated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega® (H.O.G.D./A+O®). However, my general view on this subject stays firmly unchanged, as expressed in the above written text, and what I have authored previously on the Gyllene Gryningen blog still represents my overall opinion. Any practices referred to in reference to the H.O.G.D./A+O® also apply to the Order that I am currently affiliated with, namely the Hermetiska Orden av Den Gryende Morgonrodnaden (“Hermetic Order of the Nascent Aurora”) or H∴O∴G∴M+R.

S∴R∴

Red herrings regarding the higher teachings of the A∴O∴ and its true Third Order

PAT ZALEWSKI made some comments about MacGregor Mathers’ Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega, the senior Grades and one hypothesis about the Third Order, back on the reconstructionist yahoo-forum a week ago, which has come to my attention just recently and that needs some further problematization on my behalf. I will address these issues as briefly as I can, as I don’t want to repeat myself; therefore you must indulge me to provide you with some links to previous postings by me on this blog. Now, Mr. Zalewski starts off saying, that:

In the enochian system, the tablets and serviant squares were ZAM [Zelator Adeptus Minor] and the Kerubics at THAM [Theoricus Adeptus Minor]. The calvary cross was most likely at PAM [Practicus Adeptus Minor] and the central cross at PhAM [Philosophus Adeptus Minor] and the Tablet of Union at AAM [Adept Adeptus Minor]. On the ritual study since the ZAM was a study of the 0=0 and the THAM a study of the 1=10 the rest of 5=6 sub-grades would be taken up by the elemental ritual. That leaves the Portal and 5=6 to be analysed, and that was most likely done at 6=5 and 7=4 level- if we follow the GD pattern. I very much doubt that any of this was followed through on.

While Mr. Zalewski is quite correct that the Second Order of the original Order of the G∴D∴ and the Rosicrucian Order of A∴O∴ seperated the in depth analysis of the Kerubic Squares from the Z.A.M. curriculum and reserved it for the Th.A.M., the rest is speculation on Mr. Zalewski’s behalf regarding the P.A.M., Ph.A.M., and A.A.M. sub-grades and the Enochian teachings, although there is some merit and logic to his suggestions. Regarding Elemental Grade analysis, I agree with Mr. Zalewski that this is most likely and that as the 1°=10° was the study of a Th.A.M., the 2°=9° should have been the study of a P.A.M., the 3°=8° of a Ph.A.M. and the 4°=7° of a A.A.M. However, we do not know if the Portal Grade also was not part of the A.A.M. curriculum.

I personally doubt though that the 5°=6° was supposed to be analysed at all in that same manner; the Ritual of the Portals perhaps, as it follows the same pattern as that of the Elemental Grades. But regarding the 5°=6° I seriously doubt this as it is of an entirely different nature. We know that the Ritual of the Portals was the precursor to the later 5°=6° Ritual, which created the first nominal Adepti Minori; although them two later becoming attached, the Ritual of the Portals being a species of preliminary “ritual of the paths” which lead the aspirant to the Vault of the Adepti, they are of entire different matters altogether. While the Ritual of the Portals belongs to the same type of rituals as that of the Elemental Grades, the 5°=6° belongs to entirely different types of rituals which sets it (and the other senior Adepti Grade Rituals) apart from the Outer Order formula.

What we also do know is that its symbolism was analysed in The Book of the Tomb, on an relatively early level of the study of the Minor Adept, perhaps even at the level of Neophyte Adeptus Minor. (There exists an entirely different analysis, similar to that of the Book of the Tomb, attached as an appendix to the A∴O∴ 5°=6° Ritual, which suggests this.) I seriously doubt that senior Adepts such as Westcott was priviliged to any higher knowledge of what was actually going on in the 5°=6° Ritual, beyond the obvious and its symbology; that knowledge was reserved for the Third Order initiates such as MacGregor Mathers who understood it in the light of the rituals of the 6°=5° and 7°=4°, which are part of an entire and interlinked initiatic cycle. Beyond this information, I cannot venture any deeper into this subject matter without breaching initiatic secrets; I have given you enough hints to understand that it is impossible to “analyse” the 5°=6° Ritual in the same manner as you will find it in Mr. Zalewski’s Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries. Thus I do agree with Mr. Zalewski that not that much was followed through on. Then Mr. Zalewski continues:

The GD tarot for the AO was never completed and they used the S[tella] M[atutina] cards -from what I was told. Enochian chess was never finished nor the governors of the tablets nor the seal. There was a great deal left undone.

As I said, I tend to agree with Mr. Zalewski on this one, that a great deal was left undone. However, his suggestion that the A∴O∴ initiates were using Felkin’s version from the Stella Matutina is quite ludicrous. If anything, the initiates of the A∴O∴, as was the case with that of the original G∴D∴, were using the current published decks, such as Papus’ The Tarot of the Bohemians which my earlier short essay on the confusion of Strength vs. Justice attributions suggests. I am also quite content in believing that the G∴D∴ and later the A∴O∴ used Tarot Keys drawn up for the various Rituals used in the Temple and Vault. However, I do agree with Mr. Zalewski that it was not very likely that these Keys were copied to any greater extent by the initiates themselves. However, this doesn’t at all suggest that an entire esoteric Tarot Deck was not existent in the A∴O∴. Mr. Zalewski then continues:

I tend to side with Nick Farrell on the higher levels of the AO under Mathers. If Berridge only reached 6=5 then it very in the AO few made it to 7=4, only chiefs. Tony Fullers Idea (which he delivered a paper on some years ago at the first GD conference) of the Sun order being a defacto Third order of the GD has much merit. As far as those GD members were concerned, in all probability what was lacking in the GD and AO could be found in the material in the Sun order. So there was no real need to go to the higher GD levels to obtain this information when the Sun order provided it.

If Tony Fuller once held this highly speculative idea, it seems he doesn’t any more. I don’t blame him for changing his mind as this idea about the Sun Order (also known as he Cromlech Temple) being the Third Order of the G∴D∴ is even more ludicrous than then previous one. The Sun Order was originally an entirely different Order, which saw dual membership between the A∴O∴ and the Sun Order as beneficent. Some of its teachings of the Aura seems to interact quite well with the teachings in the G∴D∴ regarding the Sphere of Sensation. However, this doesn’t at all mean that the Sun Order was an acting Third Order for the A∴O∴. At the very most, the Sun Order and its Cromlech Temple served to be a species of “side degrees”, which is a quite common concept in Freemasonry. That is, degrees which is not required but is regarded to bee looked in favour to further the understanding of the formal degrees.

Thus, to a certain degree, the Adepti of the A∴O∴ could have regarded the Sun Order to act as a side order, adding some to the core teachings of the R.R. et A.C. This is also a analysis which I seem to share with the late Francis King, the author of Ritual Magic in England which was the first literary work discussing and publishing Sun Order material. Besides, nothing suggests that anything produced in the Cromlech Temple relevant to the A∴O∴ reached any higher Grade than that of the 7°=4°, which negates it being any “Third Order” which obviously operates Grades beyond that of the Adeptus Exemptus. I already addressed this topic four years ago in my essay on the sexual teachings of the Alpha et Omega and its supposed relation to the Cromlech Temple and already then concluded that the Sun Order is a dead end in understanding the Third Order of the G∴D∴ and A∴O∴.

According to the same Mr. Fuller which Mr. Zalewski cites as a source for his own pet theories, MacGregor Marthers had set up an “Adept Collage” which consisted of the R.R.et A.C. and the Sun Order as the “two Sister Rosicrucian Orders in Britannia”; thus the Sun Order wasn’t regarded to be superior to but equal to the R.R et A.C. (Second Order) of the A∴O∴, which negates it being put upon any pedestal (i.e. a Third Order). Even Mr. Fuller himself was much hesitant in 2008 to assert that this was a general attitude within the A∴O∴, although some Adepts of the S∴M∴ might have believed this to be true. I went over all of this in 2008 and my short essay entitled The Amity of the Alpha et Omega and the Stella Matutina, and in 2009 in my follow-up on the higher teachings of the Alpha et Omega and the Solar Order. Finally, Mr. Zalewski choses to write thus:

I's [sic.] like to add one very important point here about Astral masters in the SM and Sun Order. Felkin’s chiefs of the Sun Order (some call the Sun masters) were also spitting information on the GD as well. The Sun masters were interchangeable with the GD guides.

This is a pure speculation on behalf of Mr. Zalewski. I doubt that Felkin had anything to do with the Cromlech Temple at the time of his “Sun Masters” phase. This confusion between the Sun Order and the “Sun Masters” has also been suggested by Nick Farrell in his book King over the water, which I have addressed in a review. It’s pure coincidence; the reference to the Sun being of such a universal significance that this kind of confusion is easily made. Mr. Fuller suggests that even Felkin himself later made this confusion. This entire subject of astral masters has nothing whatsoever to do with the real Secret Chiefs of the true Third Order, which is the custodian of the ancient teachings of Internal Alchemy. Nothing contained in the teachings of neither the Sun Order nor the “Sun Masters” suggest any connection to these ancient alchemical teachings. Thus, Mr. Zalewski’s suggestions, faithfully “corroborating” that of Mr. Farrell’s, is simply a red herring. Nothing more.

S∴R∴

Proof that the profaned A∴O∴ 6°=5° ritual was only the 4th part of a larger initition ceremony

A COUPLE OF DAYS ago there were a discussion on a reconstructionist yahoo-forum, attacking the position of the Rosicrucian Order of  Alpha et Omega® that the A∴O∴ 6°=5° ritual recently profaned in a book on the so-called “Westcott Tablets” (although it had absolutely no relevance to the subject matter of the book) is only the 4th part of a larger ritual. The evidence that the Alpha et Omega® put forward is that on the frontispiece of that manuscript there was a large number “4” besides the words “G.D. 6=5”.  (See image at the heather taken from a copy regularily received from the original source and owner of that document.)

Pat Zalewski and Sam Scarborough refutes this position saying that the published version in the said book was the complete one. The proof is that G.H. Fra. F.F.J. (Dr. Carnegie Dickson) wrote a “lengthy” introduction to the document, which is seen as unorthodox thing to do if it is supposed to be the 4th part of a larger ritual. They also assert that it is even more unorthodox to let the candidate go through the “rituals” of the 22nd and 23rd paths in a 4th and last segment of the ritual together with the “ritual” of the 6°=5°. They also point out that the number “4” actually is a reference to the document being the 4th copy, and that it was common practice to apply this enumeration system to a set of several loan copies used for circulation and personal copying in the G∴D∴ and S∴M∴. The published part of the 6°=5° ritual has also been compared to the original G∴D∴ and A∴O∴ Portal Ceremony and that they seem to be very similar in function. Thus it has been suggested that they possibly had the same author and were written during the same time period (i.e. prior to the 1900-schism).

Together with Nick Farrell they assert that everything that has been published during the last year or so is the sum total of the G∴D∴ and A∴O∴ (together with all of the previously published material) and that it proves that the position of the Alpha et Omega® in this matter is utterly false. Is it? I beg to differ. What has happended during these recent events is rather that these reconstructionist leaders of the Order of the Golden Dawn (Pat Zalewski), Ordo Stella Matutina (Sam Scarborough) and the Magical Order of the Aurora Aurea (Nick Farrell) are simply being aggravated that the Alpha et Omega® has called their bluff about the "secret" and "lost" A∴O∴ 6°=5° ritual to actually be the 4th and final part of it.

Let us take their arguments apart one by one, and (with the exception of my last point) refrain from using anything else but the published material as evidence (which is the only one that the reconstructionists acknowlege):

1. That F.F.J. (Carnegie Dickson) has written an introduction to the 4th Part is not at all solid evidence that it is the full ritual. The possibility cannot, in all academic and scientific fairness, be excluded that F.F.J. actually wrote an introduction to each of the 4 parts of the 6°=5° ritual. We do know from other A∴O∴ documents, bearing his official approval, that he had that quirk of appending lots of comments to the original texts. Besides, it is obvious, in reading his published introduction that it only addresses the contents of the 4th part and its task of conferring signs belonging to the two paths leading to Geburah and the sephirah Geburah itself. It doesn’t present itself to be an analysis of the entire 6°=5° initiation ceremony.

2. That the big number “4” on the cover denotes “Copy No. 4” is a long stretch in my opinion. It’s true that the loan copies in the orignal G∴D∴ had numbers relating to each of the copies, but standard protocol was also to write the words “loan copy” or “official loan copy No. x” etc. So, would that part of the 6°=5° ritual actually had been the entire ritual the attached number “4” would most probably have been preceded by these very same words and thus been spelled in full as the “Loan copy No. 4”.

A close-up of a original G∴D∴ circulation loan copy

3. If the number “4” actually had been a reference to the 4th loan copy it must have meant that it was at least 4 copies that were circulated amongst the membership. What in particular speaks against the number “4” as being a reference to a “loan copy”, regularly being handed out to the newly admitted Adepti Majori, is that on the title page it actually says with heavy underlining: “(Not to be copied)”. To be initiated into the 6°=5° was a true privilege then as it is now. While the 5°=6° was used regularly each year to initiate members into adepthood an masse, the actual number to receive the 6°=5° were very rare indeed and few in between, perhaps performed once with one candidate every decade or so. Would it then had required at least a total of 4 loan copies or more to be circulated, if there were so few candidates for advancement to the 6°=5° or almost none? No, of course not. My theory is that it only existed one copy and that it was presented to be studied by the initiate under strict supervision and with severe prohibition to copy anything from it, as it is done in Freemasonry (at least in my local lodge).

4. That paths (and adjacent tarot cards, etc) are mentioned in the last part of the ritual may seem odd at first, but if you understand what that ritual is supposed to deliver magically, you also understand that it would feel most logical and workable to put all “intellectual information” last, which also was the protocol of most G∴D∴ and freemasonic style rituals. That is, it is protocol to put the intellectual and instructional segment, and the conference of grade signs, etc., at the last part of the initiation ritual also in the Outer Order Grade rituals. As the 4th part of the 6°=5° ritual is structured, it is not concerned with an actual ritual of advancement through these paths but simply constitutes a transmission of secret instructions concerning them. The actual ritual initiations would have been done in the previous parts of the ritual.

Now, my gentle reader, let me present to you my own arguments why it is futile or baroque even to believe the 4th part to be the entire ritual of the 6°=5°:

1. The title is the most revealing. It has an overall or general title and a sub-title. The general title is: “Ritual of the 6°=5° Grade of Geburah”. The subtitle is: “The Book of the Conference of Signs in the Grade of Adeptus Major”. Notice especially that the sub-title says “Conference of Signs in the Grade of...” This to me is a clear reference that it is that part of the ritual which deals with the grade signs only. Thus the general title puts the document in its proper context as a part of the 6°=5° initiation ceremony, while the sub-title denotes the actual title of the 4th part.

2. The lack of an opening and closing is an even more strong case aginst it being the sum total of the 6°=5° ritual. In all the previous rituals, even in the origial G∴D∴ and A∴O∴ Portal ritual (which the reconstructionists seem to believe the 6°=5° ritual was modelled upon) has a formal opening and closing. This is the standard protocol in all freemasonic bodies, and also the G∴D∴. The Grade of 6°=5° simply cannot be conferred without it.

3. And this is the most important (and the least likely to be accepted by the reconstructionists). The Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® knows for sure that MacGregor Mathers was in true communication with physical Secret Chiefs of the Third Order, who gave him the secret significance of the R.R. et R.C. initiation rituals. The magical task of the 6°=5° is substantial (that of alchemical separation between the Body and the Soul of the subject matter). The 4th part lacks all of that magical formula; it is simply the traditional masonic style instruction on the mysteries of the Paths and the Sephirah in question thrown into the end of the ritual, as with any of the Outer Order grade rituals. It is as we were trying to analyse the ritual of the 3°=8° without having access to the rituals of the 30th and 31st Paths; we would miss the majority of the magical content and ritual drama and therefore miss the entire purpose of it. Thus it is impossible that a 6°=5° ritual written by MacGregor Mathers, under the guidance of the Secret Chiefs, could had only amounted to this small rite, with no opening and closing and without any actual initiatory formula preceding these intructions.

Knowing what we in the Alpha et Omega® know about MacGregor Mathers initiations and the Secret Chiefs who initiated him, this is highly unthinkable and nigh impossible even what the reconstructionists propose. Being in communication today with that same source which provided MacGregor Mathers with the magical formulae of the 5°=6°, 6°=5° and 7°=4° Grades, we know that there were other parts to that ritual, parts that we today possess thank’s to the benign guidance of the Third Order.

But also without any references to the 3rd and last point of my argument, it stands clear, considering the factual evidence we all may study in that book which has profaned the 4th part of the 6°=5° ritual, that it is the least likely that in what has been published we see the entire ritual. Based upon that same source evidence that they themselves draw their own reconstructionist conclusions from, I have presented arguments which proves that it must have been simply the last part of a much longer and more magically substantial initiation ceremony. The only reason that the reconstructionists chooses to see it from their perspective, is twofold: (a) they lack any initiatic understanding of this exalted grade and the author behind the source text, and (b) because of that they have a political agenda of destroying the reputation of anyone, both in the past and in the present, who claims such a communication with the Third Order.

Furthermore, presenting the supposed A∴O∴ 6°=5° ritual in only that narrow format it provides the reonstructionists with “evidence” that MacGregor Mathers took his A∴O∴ into a “Masonic direction”, i.e. that it went in the opposite direction compared to the S∴M∴ who developed the G∴D∴ into a “truly magical tradition”. Thus it backs up the not so hidden political agenda of Nick Farrel’s Mathers’ Last Secret and King over the Water (the latter which I am soon about to review here on my blog). What we see here is yet another evidence of historical and scholarly considerations being sacrificed upon the altar of order politics.

 Addendum (2014-03-13)
 
Since writing this blog yours truly is no longer affiliated with the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega® (H.O.G.D./A+O®). However, my general view on this subject stays firmly unchanged, as expressed in the above written text, and what I have authored previously on the Gyllene Gryningen blog still represents my overall opinion.

S∴R∴

Does the Fama deny the value of lineage?

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I has recently been suggested or claimed that Rosicrucianism isn’t compatible with the concept of lineage. In this the foundation text Fama Fraternitatis is evoked. According to this opinion the author of the Fama, who claims himself to be a Rosicrucian, wasn’t actually aware that he was a member of the Rosicrucian fraternity founded by Fr. C.R.C. before he and his fellow brethren had found the Tomb of Fr. C.R.C. in the basement of the house in which they were living, a place handed over to them by their ancestors. Thus, according to this opinion, Rosicrucianism wasn’t founded on the basis of lineage but on possession of artefacts and books.

Before we venture into a problematization of this claim we must remember and be cognizant of the fact that the Fama Fraternitatis isn’t a historical account, but rather an allegory. Thus things said in the Fama cannot be judged solely upon what is said at face value. The Fama is a part of a greater puzzle which comprise the Rosicrucian Tradition. That said, let us now study the words of the Fama itself, and what it possible could reveal to us regarding this question of lineage. It says the following:

After the death of I.O. Brother R.C. rested not, but as soon as he could, called the rest together, (and as we suppose) then his grave was made; although hitherto we (who were the latest) did not know when our loving father R.C. died, and had no more but the bare names of the beginners, and all their successors to us; yet there came into our memory, a secret, which through dark and hidden words, and speeches of the 100 years, brother A. the successor of D. (who was of the last and second row and succession), and had lived amongst many of us, did impart unto us of the third row and succession; otherwise we must confess, that after the death of the said A. none of us had in any manner known anything of Brother R.C. and of his first fellow-brethren, then that which was extant of them in our Philosophical Bibliotheca, amongst which our Axiomata was held for the chiefest Rota Mundi, for the most artificial, and Protheus the most profitable. Likewise we do not certainly know if these of the second row have been of the like wisdom as the first, and if they were admitted to all things.

Let’s us analyse this important paragraph of the Fama. First of all this post-modernist proposition entirely misses the fact that the author, presumably Fr. N.N., claims to be a brother of the Rosicrucian Order of the third generation or “row”. The author claims that there is a “second row and succession” and a member from it (Fr. A) “had lived amongst many of us,” (that is the author and his brethren) who “did impart unto us of the third row and succession”. The word “succession” is crucial here in our understanding. In this we must remember the fourth rule of the fraternity, i.e. that:

Every Brother should look out for a worthy person, who after his discease might succeed him.

What is a “succession” other that a direct reference to lineage, in the same manner as the Christian Church claims apostlic succession? The author was well aware of the “rows” that had preceeded him; thus he was conscious about his ancestors and heritage, and that he himself belonged to a chain of fraters, preserving the tradition of the “first row”.

Secondly, the author and his contemporaries did in fact know of the existence of Fr. C.R.C. (prior to the discovery of his Tomb) and of the brethren of the “first row”, as they knew their identities perfectly well. How could Fr. C.R.C. had been beloved by the author if he didn’t know of him? Thus the Fama says that the “third row” to which the author belonged “did not know when our loving father R.C. died” and that they “had no more but the bare names of the beginners, and all their successors”, although he does “confess":

that after the death of the said A. none of us had in any manner known anything of Brother R.C. and of his first fellow-brethren, then that which was extant of them in our Philosophical Bibliotheca, amongst which our Axiomata was held for the chiefest Rota Mundi, for the most artificial, and Protheus the most profitable.

Thus, they did possess literature which did mention these ancestors; they weren’t fully ignorant. Although there is a hint of a possible loss of oral knowledge between the “rows” as the author did “not certainly know if these of the second row have been of the like wisdom as the first, and if they were admitted to all things”. This is of course always the weak spot of an oral transmission of tradition. Still they weren’t ignorant of their ancestors and of the continuity of the fraternity. What they weren’t sure about was whether they had received the entire teachings as developed by the founder and his fellow assistants of the first row.

Thirdly, we have the reference to a “Philosophical Bibliotheca” which amongst else contained the works referred to as Axiomata, Rota Mundi and Protheus. These clearly are a reference to books written by the founding generation of fraters. Later the Fama says regarding the heptagonal Tomb:

Every side or wall had a door for a chest, wherein there lay diverse things, especially all our books, which otherwise we had, besides the Vocabular of Theoph:[rastus] Par.[acelcus] Ho.[henheim] and these which daily unfalsifieth we do participate. Herein also we found his Itinerarium, and vitam, whence this relation for the most part is taken. In another chest were looking-glasses of divers virtues, as also in other places were little bells, burning lamps, & chiefly wonderful artificial Songs; generally al done to that end, that if it should happen after many hundred years, the Order or Fraternity should come to nothing, they might by this onely Vault be restored again.

Thus all the literature ever produced by the first row of brethren the third row already did possess and made use of daily. This is clearly a reference to an esoteric transmission, i.e. a transmission which makes up a doctrine and instruction, passed on to the next generation. This transmission of knowledge also involves spiritual lineage, that is, corresponding states of consciousness which is passed on from brother to successor through the techniques of initiation. We also see that the third row lacked some which now was restored through this discovery of the Tomb. This also becomes clear if we proceed in the narration of the discovery of the Tomb:

Now as yet we had not seen the dead body of our careful and wise father, we therfore removed the Altar aside, there we lifted up a strong plate of brass, and found a fair and worthy body, whole and unconsumed, as the same is here lively counterfeited, with all the Ornaments and Attires; in his hand he held a parchment book, called T [wrongly rendered as “I” in the English translation] the which next to the Bible, is our greatest treasure, which ought to be delivered to the censure of the world.

Thus now the esoteric transmission was completed with the discovery of the Book T. However, the third row wasn’t lacking in teaching. They did possess the entire philosophical library of the Fraternity; they were its custodians. They were the custodians of the Rosicrucian teachings and heritage. As such they surely did possess certain qualities which was the result of initiation and spiritual lineage.

It has to be remembered that lineage isn’t about a signed paper. At least that part of formalism is not the crucial aspect of lineage, which is a later freemasonic understanding of the concept of lineage (remember that the Fama was written well before the emergence of Freemasonry). True lineage is about being taught by a line or succession of teachers, which also imparts certain qualities of spiritual attainment. Surely, the rules of the Fraternity taught that every brother had to find a suitable pupil to whom he would teach the dogma and practice of the fraternity to make him into a Fr.R.C. The author and his companions were acquainted by at least one member of the second row (Fr. A) who in turn had been taught by a member of the first row (Fr. D) whom he had succeeded. Fr. A. later imparted N.N. and the other members of the third row with some knowledge of their ancestors. That is, he gave them a initiatic transmission. The Fama emphasises the need of a line of succession with this sentence:

After that A. in Gallia Narbonensi was deceased, then suceeded in his place, our loving Brother N.N. this man after he had repaired unto us to take the solemn oath of fidelity and scerecy, he informed us bona fide, That A. had comforted him in telling him, that this Fraternity should ere long not remain so hidden, but should be to all the whole German Nation helpful, needful, and commendable; of the which he was not in any wise in his estate ashamed of. The year following...he had performed his School right.

Before Fr. N.N. was able to enter the house of the Sancti spiritus and its ranks he had to be chosen by one of the fraters of the second row as his successor. The last sentence of that paragraph also hints at the collage of the Sancti spiritus as a working academia of occult learning in which Fr. N.N. received his full education. Thus the collage of initiates embodied a living tradition which imparted initiation and spiritual lineage.

So, does the Fama actually deny the concept of lineage? Certainly not! On the contrary, it establishes the concept of succession and of “row”, that is generations. The Rosicrucian Fraternity is a chain of generations, succeeding the previous generation and spawning the next generation of initiates. This is a clear concept of lineage. Fr. N.N. and his fellow brethren wouldn’t be allowed to enter the house of Sancti spiritus, an apt metaphor of the fraternity, would they not had been chosen as successors, because this building according to the Fama:

although one hundred thousand people had very near seen and beheld the same shall for ever remain untouched, undestroyed, and hidden to the wicked world.

Only the initiates are able to spot the Temple of the Holy Ghost who do possess the spiritual discernment to see it, who thorough initiation has been given a second sight which goes well beyond that of the first sight of the profane.

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Frimureriets förhållande till traditionen

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Jüri Lina, den estniske esoterikern och antisionisten som mest har gjort sig ökänd såsom konspirationsteoretiker och historierevisionist (läs förintelseförnekare), för en i synnerhet obevekelig kamp mot Frimureriet. Detta har han gjort i diverse filmer och genom sina två böcker Under Skorpionens tecken och Världsbyggarnas bedrägeri – frimurarnas dolda historia. Jag måste villigt erkänna att jag inte har läst någon av dessa böcker; men jag har sett filmen Ljusbringarna: Jahbulons Emissarier. Dessutom har jag läst uttalanden om hans böcker och produktbeskrivningar, etc. Av detta kan man dra den slutsatsen att Lina anser Frimureriet utgöra ett av de främsta redskapen för Den Nya Världsordningen (NWO – The New World Order). Bakom denna står sionistiska krafter som även använder sig av kommunismen som ett av sina redskap. Bolsjevismen anses ha sitt ursprung ur någon obskyr rysk Frimurareloge. Dessutom är Frimureriet styrt av Illuminaterna som ursprungligen grundades av Adam Weishaupt i Bayern. Föga förvånande för mina läsare har jag inte mycket till övers för Linas fantasier, Frimurare som jag är, även om Lina kan träffa rätt ibland i sitt forskande efter enskilda fakta.

Dessutom finner man ibland kritik från vissa Traditionalistiska läger mot Frimureriet i det att upplysningsfilosofin anses har frodats i dess Loger, såväl som liberalismens idéer. Vissa av dem har även tagit till sig Linas kritik mot Frimureriet. Såsom Traditionalist och Frimurare är det min avsikt att här göra vissa förtydliganden, utifrån den erfarenhet och kunskap som jag själv har om Frimureriet.

Först och främst måste man komma ihåg att Frimureriet inte är en homogen rörelse. Snarare är den en mycket splittrad sådan. Dels har vi den stora uppdelningen mellan det franska Frimureriet å ena sida och det brittiska Frimureriet å den andra (det svenska Frimureriet erkänner idag endast det senare). Det var också inom det franska Frimureriet som radikala politiska idéer fick frodas, medan man i brittiska Frimurareloger förbjöd diskussioner om politik (en princip som även gäller i det svenska Frimureriet). Sedan har vi dessutom det s.k. ”fringe” (eller ytterkants) Frimureriet som inte är erkänt av varken det franska eller brittiska Frimureriet.

För det andra så finns det ett esoteriskt (eller mystiskt) Frimureri och ett s.k. ”blå loge” Frimureri (även kallat Johannesfrimureri), varav det senare mest ägnar sig åt välgörenhet och endast arbetar med Frimureriets tre första grader; det esoteriska Frimureriet tillhör det s.k. ”högregrads-frimureriet”. I både Frankrike och i synnerhet Tyskland frodades det esoteriska högregrads Frimureriet. Såsom Johannesfrimureriet i Sverige härstammar från Frankrike härstammar det svenska högregradssystemet (vilket är esoteriskt i sin grund) delvis från Frankrike men mestadels från Tyskland. I ytterkanterna av frimureriet (det s.k. ”fringe” frimureriet) hittar vi de mest uttalade esoteriska logerna, men dessa är som sagt inte erkända av det formella Frimureriet.

I Tyskland utvecklades mycket intressanta Rosenkorsiska frimureriska högregradssystem som bekämpade Illuminati-ordens form av ultraliberalism. Mest framträdande av dessa var det alkemiska sällskapet Gold und Rosenkreutz Orden. Rosenkorsarna var traditionalister, så ock mycket av övrigt högregrads-frimureri. Svenska frimurare håller hårt på sina traditioner. Frimureriet är självt en representant för Den Ursprungliga Traditionen enligt Traditionalismens fader René Guénon. I detta håller jag med honom.

Även om det verkar som att Adam Weishaupt var inspirerad av Frimureriet när han organiserade De Bayerska Illuminati så var varken han eller hans ordenssällskap en egentlig Frimurareorden. Den var aldrig erkänd av varken de franska eller brittiska Storlogerna. Man måste akta sig för att blanda äpplen med päron. Sålunda har jag inte mycket till övers för Jüri Linas slutsatser i det här fallet, lika lite som jag har mycket till övers för Weishaupt, Karl Marx eller Lenin.

Angående den påstådda sionistiska kontrollen av Frimureriet så är det ett faktum att Frimureriets högregradssystem i nästan samtliga fall är kristet. Svenska Frimurare Orden (SFMO) avkräver en kristen tro av sina kandidater. Judar påstås ha skapat frimureriet enligt Lina, men han väljer att bortse från det faktum att judar har förvägrats medlemskap i just frimureriets högregradssystem, i synnerhet i Tyskland. Man tvingades att bilda separata judiska loger, den mest berömda i Frankfurt-am-Main 1807 kallad L’Aurore Naissante.

Även de tyska Rosenkorsarna, och i synnerhet Gold und Rosenkreutz Orden, var skeptiska till judar som medlemmar i sin skara och många var t.o.m. direkt antisemitiska. Därför bildades så småningom ett nytt Rosenkorsisk sällskap, vilket schismerade ur Gold und Rosenkreutz, som tillät judar och kristna att arbeta i samma Loger, de s.k. Asiatiske Bröderne. Det fanns loger från båda dessa Rosenkorsiska grupperingar i Sverige, och de var varandras ärkefiender här såväl som i Tyskland.

Frimureriets egentliga historia och ursprung kommer inte kunna finnas bland sionister utan i Storbrittaniens adel. Lika mycket som jag anser Jüri Linas konspirationsidéer vara fantasifoster så anser många seriösa historiker det vara fantasier att tro att Frimureriet härstammar från Tempelherre-Orden, vilket är en vanlig mytisk historiebeskrivning i Frimureriets högregradssystem som innehåller mycket Tempelherre-mystik. I mina ögon är Frimureriet ursprungligen en kristen domän, inte judisk. Judarna, och andra trossamfund, kom senare till Frimureriet. Det utvecklades t.o.m. ateistiska loger i Frankrike.

Förvisso talas det mycket om Tempelbygget i Frimureriet (Salomons Tempel) men detta gör inte Frimureriet judiskt för det, ännu mindre sionistiskt. Vi får inte förglömma att Templet i Jerusalem var en helig plats både för Judar och för Kristina. Denna plats figurerar mycket i Nya Testamentet. Tempelherre-Orden grundades uppå Morias topp och tog sitt namn Pauperes commilitones Christi templique Salomonis (”Kristi och Salomos tempels fattiga riddare”) för att bekräfta sin andliga länk med denna plats. Sålunda talar Frimureriets byggnadstekniska symbolik i förhållande till Salomos Tempel snarare för denna påstådda koppling till Tempelherre-Orden som ett historiskt ursprung.

Inom Frimureriet kan vi se en demarkationslinje gå mellan upplysningsfilosofi (dvs. materialism och liberalism) på ena sidan och traditionalism (motupplysning och esoterik) på den andra. Inom De Blå Logerna eller Johannesfrimureriet frodades de nya ”moderna” idéerna om liberalism och upplysningsfilosofi, medan det i de olika högregrads-systemen (det ”skottska” och tempelherremystiken) frodades en motståndsrörelse mot upplysningen. Alltså kan man se en inneboende motsättning mellan olika synsätt.

I Sverige kan vi eventuellt se ett tecken på denna skiljelinje och inbyggda konflikt, i och med Anckarströms kungamord (på Gustav III). Anckarström själv var inte frimurare men konspiratörerna var det. Bland dessa fanns eventuellt även Kungens bror, Hertig Carl, som var Stormästare och reformatör för Svenska Frimurare Orden, tillika övertygad esoteriker. Även Gustav III var frimurare och ordens beskyddare. Men många ansåg att Gustav gick för långt i sin liberalisering av Sverige; Gustav III:s ”revolution” föregick den franska och hade en del liknande innehåll, bl.a. adelns minskade privilegier.

Europas esoteriska historia är oftast synonymt med europas adel; de flesta hermetiska alkemister och högmagiker antingen tillhörde överklassen eller var ”anställda” av denna. Bl.a. anställde Gustav III en hovalkemist på Drottningsholm, August Nordenskiöld, som inte själv direkt var ståndslös. Sålunda kan man lätt dra den slutsatsen att de europeiska Loger som arbetade med Frimureriets högregradssystem mestadels blev ett forum för hög- och lågadel, och andra välbärgade medborgare, medan Blå Loge-frimureriet var mer öppet även för ”ofrälse”. Ordensvurmandet var mycket utbrett bland den europeiska adeln.

Alkemin, vilket måste anses representera Traditionalismen i formen av ett praktiskt hantverk, flörtade rejält med adeln och representerade det gamla feodala samhällets världsbild och dess traditionella värdegrund. Om ni vill läsa mer om detta rekommenderar jag Carl-Michael Edenborgs doktorsavhandling/bok Alkemins Skam, som beskriver detta mycket väl. Det är då inte konstigt att Rosenkorssällskap, såsom den tidigare nämda Gold- und Rosenkreutz Orden, våldsamt motsatte sig Weishaputs projekt, vilket ju var en radikal form av upplysningsfilosofi och representerade en liberalism som var något av en föregångare till Marxismen.

Sammanfattningsvis ville jag med dessa ord ha sagt är att där fanns ”frimurare” och att där fanns frimurare inom samma organisation, vissa uppenbart av ädlare blod än andra. Den ”finare” kategorin av frimurare drogs ofta till esoteriken och Frimureriets högre grader, och motsatte sig våldsamt sådant som ansågs vara politiskt korrekt i diskussionerna hos de Blå Logernas salonger. Så på ett sätt är det korrekt att säga att frimureriet understödde liberalismen och upplysningsfilosofin, men samtidigt är det också lika korrekt att säga att Frimureriet representerade en institution som arbetade för att bevara den gamla, traditionella och i grunden esoteriska världsbilden.

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