Fama Fraternitatis - 1614

Wiewohl wir nun wohl wissen, daß es umb ein ziemliches noch nicht an dem, da wieder unserm Verlangen oder auch anderer Hoffnung mit allgemeiner Reformation divini et humani, solle genug geschehen, ist es doch nicht unbillich, daß, ehe die Sonne auffgehet, sie zuvor ein HELL oder dunkel liecht in den Himmel bringt und unter dessen etliche wenige, die sich werden angeben, zusammen tretten, unsere Fraternitet mit der Zahl und Ansehen des gewünschten und von Fr.R.C. fürgeschriebenen Philosophischen Canons, einen glücklichen Anfang machen oder ja in unserer Schätz (die uns nimmermehr aufgehen können) mit uns in Demut und Liebe genießen die Mühsamkeit dieser Welt überzuckern und in den Wunderwerken Gottes nicht also blind umbgehen.

Vi vet dock att det enligt vår åstundan och andras förväntningar efter någon tid kommer en allmän reformation av både gudomliga och mänskliga ting. Ty innan solen går upp, upplyses himlen av
MORGONRODNADENS ljus. I väntan på denna reformation församlas några få som med sitt antal skall utöka vårt brödraskap, höja dess anseende och stärka dess förhoppningar och ge de av Fr.R.C. föreskrivna Filosofiska Canons en lycklig begynnelse. I all ödmjukhet och kärlek skall dessa nytillkomna tillsammans med oss dela våra skatter, som aldrig skall förgås, och så lindra denna världens möda och inte längre vandra ovetande om kunskapen om Guds underbara verk.

Howbeit we know after a time there will now be a general reformation, both of divine and humane things, according to our desire, and the expectation of others: for it is fitting, that before the rising of the Sun, there should appear and break forth AURORA, or some clearness, or divine light in the sky; and so in the mean time some few, which shall give their names, may joyn together, thereby to increase the number and respect of our Fraternity, and make a happy and wished for beginning of our Philosophical Canons, prescribed to us by our brother R.C. and be partakers with us of our treasures (which never can fail or be wasted) in all humility, and love to be eased of this worlds labor, and not walk so blindly in the knowledge of the wonderful works of God.

Definition

Det brittiska ordenssällskapet Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn och den tyska Frimurarlogen L'Aurore Naissante, vilket grundades i London 1888 respektive Frankfurt-am-Main 1807, delade på samma hebreiska namn Chevrah Zerach Bequr Aur, förevisat i gyllene gult vid bloggens huvud, vilket ordagrannt kan översättas till “Stigande Gryningsljusets Sällskap”. Denna tyska Rosenkorsiska Frimurarloge i Frankfurt, vilket måste anses vara det ursprungliga modertemplet till GOLDEN DAWN, kallade sig på tyska även Loge sur Aufgehenden Morgenröthe, vilket kan översättas till “Gryende Morgonrodnadens Loge”. Detta skiljer sig åt från den engelska seden att översätta orden Bequr Aur till “Golden Dawn” eller “Gyllene Gryningen”. Med anledning av Rosenkorstraditionens tyska ursprung är en mer korrekt översättning av Bequr Aur, genom franskans L'Aurore Naissante och tyskans Aufgehenden Morgenröthe, inget annat än GRYENDE MORGONRODNADEN. Denna hänvisning till ett stigande gryningsljus, morgonrodnad eller aurora är en klar hänvisning till den allmäna reformationen omnämnt i det ovan citerade stycket från Fama Fraternitatis. Denna blogg har dock valt att behålla den försvenskade anglo-saxiska termen GYLLENE GRYNINGEN för att denna, invand som den är, lättare associeras med den Rosenkorsiska tradition som här ämnas att framställas.

Licht, Leben, Liebe

tisdag 19 april 2011

Evocation: a matter of the Microcosm or the Macrocosm?

o

What follows may bee seen as a follow up to my discussion on evocation that I initiated when reviewing Nineveh Shadrach’s excellent translation of the foremost Arabic solomonic grimoire. For the last years there seems to be a revival of the grimoire tradition, which often has taken an extremely traditionalistic point of view. The “traditional” view on evocation regards it solely as affecting real and objective external spirits, that has no connection whatsoever to the Magician himself; they shun upon psychological explanations as proposed by more modern Magicians who use a psychoanalytic or Jungian explanation of evocation. There are also people in between these two extreme categories, some leaning more towards one of these perspectives or paradigms.

Frater Argent belongs to this last category focusing more upon the “traditional” point of view and what follows is actually the fruit of a recent discussion that I exchanged with him over at his excellent blog StreetMagick. My own position has until now been somewhere in between but leaning more towards the modern in this particular case, the psychological approach. This has been due to the fact that I have been trained in Ceremonial Magic by David Griffin, who seemingly represent the psychological school of magic started off by Israel Regardie, and transmitted from the latter to the former through Cris Monnastre. This was carried out through the traditional teacher and student relationship, a form of teaching that by nature has a tendency to attach itself onto the pupil and stick with him or her.

One fruit of this “guru-chela” relationship resulted in the article on the initiatory process of the Golden Dawn entitled Israel Regardie, Initiaton, and Psychotherapy, which has excerted a huge influence on me. When I wrote my own BA thesis it revolved around transpersonal psychology and in it I quoted pertinent parts from Israel Regardie’s My Rosicrucian Adventure, in which he proposes that the Qlippoth represents archetypal powers assaulting the initiate through the process of initiation. Another monumental work for me, in shaping this subjective world view, was David Griffin’s magnificent tome, The Ritual Magic Manual, which presents an entirely psychological perspective on magical evocation.

Quite recently I completed my training as a psychotherapist in a field that belongs to the psychoanalytic school, which of course has had a somewhat nostalgic effect, as it were, on my original belief system. But I have always, since I started with my occult studies, believed in a objective magical or spiritual reality as well. Thus I have never really believed in Carl Gustav Jung’s theory that our spiritual self is only part of our neurological brain structure. And I do not today, nor have I ever in the past, adhered to Lon Milo DuQuette’s really amusing and equally misleading axiom “It’s All in Your Head … You Just Have No Idea How Big Your Head Is”.

That said, I have always placed my focus on the internal workings of the Magician, of the Operator, of the Alchemist, etc., in the Great Work. Thus even if I in fact have believed, and still do believe, in real demons or Qlippoth, I have preferred to focus upon finding and rooting out my own equivalent personal demons in my unconscious or subconscious mind. In a likewise manner I have regarded Magic to be primarily a species of occult or esoteric psychology, quite prompted by the works of that great occult teacher Paul Foster Case, or rather how I have interpreted him in the past. I referred to and quoted from Case a lot in my BA thesis as well, more than I did Regardie as a matter of fact, or any one else for that matter (with one exception).

This, I believe, constitutes a natural phase in the life of an initiate, to investigate onself. Both Freud and the Hierophants of ancient Greek mysteries followed the adage of Gnothi Seauton or “Man, know thyself”. But over time, as the process proceeds the initiate slowly starts to reflect upon and observe nature outside of himself; “Man, knowing nature you will know yourself”. This has also happened to me, especially in the last years of my training, again prompted by my teacher David Griffin. Today I know for a fact that magic is definitely not only reduced to a species of psychology of an esoteric kind; it is also and more so a science of energetics and evolution of the physical self as well. When we become really conscious of our body and the energetic currents that flow through it, we also naturally become conscious or observant of their correspondences in the outer world as well.

Thus today I no longer lay any emphasis on the intrapersonal and subjective self, as it may have seemed that I did in my previously mentioned review of Mr. Shadrach’s book. Today I acknowledge the importance of the objective forces on an equal status with the subjective ones. Thus I very much agree that spirits and demons have a real and objective existence outside of us. But contrary to the purely traditionalist view I don’t regard the subjective and the objective perspective on this as necessarily mutually exclusive.

I don’t even agree that what is normally viewed as “traditional” in this respect is actually traditional in the truest sense, at least not according to the Hermetic tradition. In my humble opinion, to be truly traditionally Hermetic we must employ its original perspective of the relation between the macrocosm and the microcosm. Thus, while I agree with the normally perceived “traditional” view, on the existence of real and outside demons and spirits, we must on the other hand not forget that whatever is in the macrocosm also is reflected in the microcosm.

Thus we host a legion of demons (in) ourselves that constitutes part of ourselves. In a psychological perspective these demons feed (on) our complexes (aggregations of though-emotions), or constitutes parts or the whole of any of them, but they also constitute unbalanced energetic aggregations of the Sphere of Sensation itself. So I am myself still convinced that traditional evocation methods works fine in also projecting these repressed complexes and unbalanced energies of the Sphere of Sensation out into the Triangle of Art.

The Triangle of Art

That being said, what should optimally occur in evocation is also the summoning of the macrocosmic equivalent. There is a perfectly good reason why people in the middle ages believed (and still in some catholic countries believes) that real and external demons instigated or tempted them to commit sin. Real and objective demons are attracted to and feed on the unbalanced emotions and behaviour of humans as they love these energies being radiated from our Sphere (it’s like they spot our heat signature with thermal sights); there is a rapport between the corresponding macrocosmic and microcosmic Qlippoth.

One could argue that natural man stands in greater union with the “devil” (meaning the realm of the Qlippoth), or with nature’s baseness, than he does with God (the realm of the divine) or nature’s finer forces. The most efficient magical technique to detach ourselves from these Qlippothic powers in ourselves and in nature is to evoke them. Thus both our own subjective demon as well as the objective demon should optimally merge in the Triangle. In this way we both gain consciousness of and integrate the demon of our own personality, placing it under the Will of our Genius, and at the same time raise the spark of that macrocosmic Qlippah back to its divine origin.

Faust summoning Mephistofeles

In my opinion, this also occurs in ordinary invocations as well. When we invoke a Force, say an Element or Planet, we both activate that archetypal part of ourselves internally in(to) our Sphere of Sensation, and at the same time invoke the macrocosmic equivalent externally into our Sphere as well; the circumference of our Sphere forms the point of interconnection between the “cosms” through symbol. In this way we in stages merge our own microcosmic Sphere with the macrocosmic Sphere. Theurgy is about union, not only between the “spiritual” side of ourself with our “material”, or mind and body, but also between the microcosm (inner) and the macrocosm (outer).

That’s why we shouldn’t loose sight of the fact that there also exists microcosmic equivalents of these objective forces, angelic as well as demonic. This is especially the case when working with the archetypal forces of the Elements, Planets, Zodiac (the 72 Quinants) and Sephiroth; there are both angelic and qlippotic (demonic) entities attached to these.

I have the same view on evocation as I have with invocation, the theurgic perspective. If we are to unite ourselves with the macrocosm we also must prepare ourselves to merge with the ugly aspects as well; in this last respect may I refer the reader to my recent essay on the subject of the Divine Evil. Through evocation we place these unbalanced forces under divine dominion, being part of the Tikkun ha-Olam (the restoration of the world). Restoring the world we also restore ourselves, and vice versa.

Now, “traditionalist” grimoire magicians argue against the relative recency of the psychological perspective on magic, that it doesn’t reflect the living traditions. I cannot argue with that; yes, sure, the psychological perspective is very recent. But this doesn’t disqualify it. Being trained in the psychodynamic / psychoanalytic school myself, I of course find it particularly interesting and through my own research I have found Sigmund Freud’s theories to be quite Lurianic as to their nature. While Jung’s Analytical Psychology more reflects the Christian Gnostic and Hermetic worldview, as seen through the lens of the modern academic psychiatrist or psychologist, Freud’s Psychoanalysis on the other hand more expresses that of the Jewish Qabalah.

But if someone would dare to state that this is all that there is to evocation or the nature of the Qlippoth, I would say that this surely is a sign of ignorance and lack of real experience, in the same way that C.G. Jung interpreted Alchemical symbolism as the projections of the archetypes, which is extremely reductionary at the same time as it is interesting.

So, my own position in all of this is somewhere in the middle between traditionalist grimoire magic and the school as represented by Mr. Griffin’s book The Ritual Magic Manual; I’m sitting on the fence and saying that both are correct. If one believes in only one of these perspectives, I would dare to say that it represents a half truth, although I would also say that the subjective position is the most delusional of them. I know however that Mr. Griffin believes in the objective existence of the demons as well.

In our discussion Frater Argent emphasised the importance of evoking the macrocosm as much as possible and projecting as little of oneself as one can into the Triangle of Art, meaning that one should let the macrocosmic entity taking precedence. In fact I agree with him, if it actually means that in this way one’s subjective (microcosmic) self aligns more to the objective (macrocosmic), resulting in a greater rapport or connection to the whole.

In the final analysis however, if one wants to merge one’s microcosm with the macrocosm one have to open up oneself to it. In invocation this is easily done as one simply opens up one’s Sphere of Sensation and let these forces in. But in evocation, binding the demon to the Triangle of Art (which is outside of one’s Sphere by the very definition) one have to meet the objective force half way, as it were, sending one’s own demon into the triangle as well.

S∴R∴

torsdag 14 april 2011

Introducing the Magical Tie

o

I just got this influx of genius today that I want to share with you. From personal experience, working energetically with my alchemical partner (Soror Mystica), I have verified that the Seven Internal Planets or Metals (i.e. the Chakras of the Tantric Yogis) in fact actually are formed as (lotus) flowers, or perhaps as funnels or horns. As can bee seen on the following illustration each energy wheel (Chakra) emerges from the spine (in which it is rooted), as with a stem, out to the front of the body to open up its petals on the surface of the energetic or etheric body.

The Chakras according to C.W. Leadbeater

This reminded me of something that Pat Zalewski once stated in his Golden Dawn Ritual Commentaries book, that the Adepts of the Whare Ra (of Havelock North, New Zeeland) believed that the tail of the Nemyss actually protected the Chakras from possession (or was it from a premature raising of the Kundalini?). According to this protocol, developed in one of the finest magical schools that occult history ever have encountered, the instructions as for the tail of the Nemyss was to make it long enough sufficient for it to protect the entire spine from the head down to the base of the spine. Some Adepts supposedly also inserted a Talisman into the tail of the Nemyss to enhance its protective powers against the evil mischief making of Oomo-Shatan-Apophis.

However, these good Adepts missed the important point that the Chakras in fact are predominately directed and thus most vulnerable to the front of the body. Therefore the Chakras emit as well as receive energy for the most part through their opened up flowers or funnels. Thus the back is actually not that particularly vulnerable; alas they left their Chakras unprotected through this grave error!

But let us not be alarmed my good and dear readers; I have finally solved this problem today.

Therefore, Fratres and Sorores, here ye all that I, Frater Sincerus Renatus, and on this important day in the history of the Magic of Light, introduce to you the… Magical Tie!

Through this major breakthrough in Theurgy I have finally solved the riddle of magical power obsession and ego inflation, and saved the various Golden Dawn Orders from future megalomanic leaders and un-fraternal infighting. No longer will you be subjected to any unnecessary dangers of possession or obsession by the Coiling Serpent and Seven-headed Red Dragon. Through the regular use of the Magical Tie, in both you personal magical workings and participation in Temple, you will be able to safely walk the straight and narrow pathway to your personal God or Divine Genius. And meeting a fellow Rosicrucian on the street you will both be able to recognize yourselves as to your high standing through this easily recognized signature, making redundant any secret handshakes and pass-words!

Beware of Oomo-Shatan-Apophis!

Just make sure, for optimal efficiency (and the recognition factor), and this must be emphasised, that the Magical Tie has to have black and white stripes (though Adepts are permitted to wear yellow and white) and especially that it reaches down to the groin. Make also sure that it is of the broad variety, or wide as possible, covering your Planetary energy wheels upon the breast and abdomen properly. Or else it will loose its protective power and shielding abilities! Also refrain from using any synthetic material; only use the traditional materials, such as silk or linen. To enhance its protective faculties it is permissible to insert a Talisman consecrated to Mars as well.

The correct application of the Magical Tie

Don’t forget to write down your personal magical experiences and anecdotes, and post them on the comments section on this blog. And furthermore also never forget who first told you about this essential magical implement, which is the true Stone of the Wise that will grant you perfect health and happiness, Summum Bonum!

S∴R∴

måndag 4 april 2011

The question of Divine Evil: Dualism and the Golden Dawn – Part Two

o
I would like to share with you some of my thoughts that have been raised in recent discussions, following my pervious essay on this matter, and in particular on the subject of “evil” versus “good”. I would agree with the standard Golden Dawn definition that “evil” may be regarded simply as “unbalance” or lack of equilibrium. Thus the only difference between a “good” order and an “evil” one lays in the whole, not in its parts. When you view the corresponding part of both a “good” and an “evil” system of arrangement you will see the same innate nature in both, in the sense of being two sides of the same coin. It is when you regard the whole system that you will notice a difference; the “good” system is the world of harmoniously working and integrated Sephiroth on the Tree of Life, while the “evil” system shows differentiation, disassociation, disharmony and chaos in its corresponding Qlippoth. But is has to be remembered that both the Sephiroth and the Qlippoth share the same innate nature, which has its origin in the Divine. Thus, if there is an evil, this is also part of God. The Qabalah is quite clear on this subject.

There is lot of symbolism in the Golden Dawn ritual and teachings that refer to a primal or primordial chaos, which is associated with the Kings of Edom, while the King of Israel symbolizes the orderly cosmos. Thus in the Golden Dawn ritual corresponding to the 4°=7° Grade of Philosophus we find the following sentence:

Ere the Eternal instituted the Formation, Beginning and End existed not. Therefore, before Him, he expanded a certain Veil, and therein has instituted the Primal Kings. And these are the Kings who reigned in Edom before there reigned a King over Israel but they subsisted not. When the Earth was formless and void; behold this is the reign of Edom; and when Creation was established, lo this is the reign of Israel. And the Wars of Titanic Force in the Chaos of Creation, lo these are the Wars between them.
These Kings of Edom are also associated with the primordial Serpent or Dragon Force, which evokes both the image of the great Mother Goddess Tiamat from the Babylonian Enûma Eliš and also the Dragon from the Revelation of St. John. Thus in the Stella Matutina (the later derivative of the Golden Dawn) ritual corresponding to the Grade of Portal we find the following words:
The Realm of Chaos and of Ancient Night, ere ever the Aeons [Sephiroth] were, when there was neither Heaven or Earth, nor was there any Sea, when naught was, save the Shape Unluminous, formless and void. To and fro in the Deeps, swayed the coils of the Dragon with 8 Heads and 11 Horns. Eleven were the curses of Mount Ebal, eleven the Rulers of the Qlippoth, and at their head were the Dual Contending Forces.
Another Golden Dawn symbol of the force which brings order to the primordial chaos is Thoth, the god of wisdom, magic, mathematics and of architecture. In the Book of the Voice of Thoth (Ritual Z) we find the following opening sentence:
The Speech in the Silence; The Words Against the Son of Night; The Voice of Thoth before the Universe in the presence of the Eternal Gods; The Formulae of Knowledge; The Wisdom of Breath; The Radix of Vibration; The Shaking of the Invisible; The Rolling Asunder of the Darkness; The Becoming Visible of Matter; The Piercing of the Coils of the Stooping Dragon; The Breaking forth of the Light; All these are in the Knowledge of Thoth.
Thus what we have here is an implication that “evil” precedes “good”, that creation is good while the primordial state of non-creation or un-creation is seen as evil. Thus the Qlippoth (Evil Demons) as manifest in our World of Matter and Action seeks annihilation; the drive towards total destruction. It may be compared to the Freudian death drive seeking extinction and a return to the womb versus the life instinct urging us forward towards individuation.

Here it is interesting to seek out the etymology of the word “annihilation” which have its origin in the Latin root nihil or “nothing”. Thus a literal translation of the word annihilation is “to make into nothing”. In the Holy Qabalah we have the so-called “Three Negative Veils of existence”, which precedes creation, represented as the primordial Ain (“No-Thing”), which leads into the Ain-Soph (“Without Limit”) and lastly into Ain-Soph Aur (“Limitless Light”), before the emanation of the monad or Kether (“Crown”). Thus the primordial Chaos may be seen here as the equivalent of the Qabalistic concept of Ain or No-Thing.

Now, what I am about to say may be outrageous to some individuals and perhaps even blasphemous to others. I understand the controversial nature of this doctrine as it has taken many years for my conditioned Christian mind to accept and integrate the following message: If we are to follow the way of the antinomian Qabalah of the Golden Dawn into its logical conclusion, we also have to deal with the fact that the very innate and purest essence of Godhead or the ALL shares a basic “urge” in common with the Qlippoth of Matter, i.e. that of maintaining non-existance, all encompassing darkness and unluminous void.

The Sabbathian doctrine or philosophy speaks of this and has created a concept called the “thoughtless light”, residing in the primordial Ain-Soph, which tries to prevent creation or existance. But we have to remember that the Sabbathian doctrine also states that on the level of the Ain-Soph, which represents the next stage in the process of creation after Ain, there is also created the ambivalence in the “mind” of the Goodhead, represented as a contest between the “thoughtful light” versus the “thoughtless light”. Thus we see here the manifestation of both the willing and unwilling nature of Godhead, which later manifests as the “evil” left-hand emanation and the “good” right-hand emanation of God as symbolized by the two Pillars upon the Tree of Life, all according to the Sabbathian doctrine which permeates the Golden Dawn Tradition.

The Fallen World in the Abyss of Serpents

Through the Fall of the World and of Man an Abyss of Serpents were created below the Garden of Eden, creating the World of Action or Assiah as we know it, but also the World of the Qlippoth. Thus, according to the Sabbathian Qabalah,
this explains how we perceive our World as differentiated (i.e. unbalanced) and base. But it has to be remembered that this lack of balance exists both in the Macrocosm (World) as well as in the Microcosm (Man). Thus, according to teachings of the Golden Dawn, we all have our own “Evil Persona” to deal with, symbolized in the Hall of Neophytes as Oomo-Shatan-Apophis. But this force is not contrary to the Divine nature or things.

Thus let us not forget that Satan (according to The Book of Job) is one of the Sons of God; indeed he does the dirty (albeit divine) handiwork of God. As we can see from the above quotations from Golden Dawn formulae this “satanic” or “luciferian” urge is an innate part of God, not at all his opposite or opponent as taught in the Christian Church. Until we as spiritual seekers deal with this fact we will never gain true illumination or become as God.

Oomo-Shatan-Apophis

Many spiritual seekers, such as the traditional Gnostic followers, look upon the World and all they are able to see is Evil manifesting in every part of worldly existence, while the Divine is seen as being held apart from it in some transcendent and exalted existence. Thus, to become as God they seek to escape from the body and hurl themselves into the purely spiritual. But this concept is a fallacy as all of existence is part of God, and ultimately good, albeit in a fallen state in our World of Action. So, if you want to become truly as God you have to be both transcendent and immanent at the same time, i.e. be conscious of your Spirit, Soul and Body simultaneously.

I have an fundamentally Alchemical (Hermetic-Tantric) outlook on this, which always involves “matter” as well as “spirit”. It is of course possible to experience pure spiritual states or planes, and that aspect of spiritual work also has its merit, but to be able to brake the cycles of reincarnation I truly believe that you have to integrate your inner essence with your manifest outer self; i.e. learn to master the matter. Only then may you become consciously immortal – i.e. partake of the immortal nature of God – and become a real co-creator. Even if your most terrestrial or base husk eventually must die, this doesn’t mean that a purified part of your Elemental and material body may not survive death. It can according to the Master Alchemists and that of the Dzogchen and Tantric masters.

It may seem to us that our body “traps” our soul, but this is only because it is yet in a fallen state. With our body being “trapped” (note the quotation marks) I mean that our Soul is limited and restricted in its expressions – in the normal case – while working through the body. This I and many alchemist before me, both in the Orient and Occident, hold may be remedied on the level of the physical, as well as in the astral, mental, etc. It has to be remembered that in Ceremonial Magic one must use all Four Elemental Weapons, also the Magical Pentacle or Disc; the principle of Magical Manifestation.

Earth Pentacle

Alchemy aims at purifying the body, emancipating it, for it to become “alchemical”; Tantrikas calls it (the end product) the “Diamond Body”, Dzogchenpas the “Rainbow Body” and Hermeticists the “Solar Body of Light”. Yogis and Tantrikas believes it’s possible to become emancipated from sickness, as well as render the body immortal and able to take flight, etc. This is also the Hermetic position. As I mentioned earlier, I do believe in the ability and worth in pursuing also purely “spiritual” exercises, apart from the body. However I also believe that the difference of opinion between Alchemists and Gnostics lays in equating the Self with “spirituality”. Surely enough, the Self is beyond the body, but with my emphasis upon the body I’m not pursuing any materialistic philosophy. No, contrary to materialism I regard both my Self and Body as equally Holy.

Is the Great Mother or Goddess of Nature any less important than the Great Father or God of the Heavens? No, its only “fallen” and may be raised to its former glory and union with its Divine Consort. Thus my perspective on the body is purely spiritual; it is the vessel or cup of my Spirit or Self. It is through my body that the Divine Spirit finds expression; with my Alchemy and Theurgy I’m simply trying to make it a better vehicle or expression for the Divine. Let us raise the Goddess!

Read the third part of this essay here.

S∴R∴

söndag 3 april 2011

The importance and significance of lineage and tradition

o

A couple of weeks ago I answered a query on the necessity of secrecy and lineage, in particular the one claimed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®. The querent asked if the mysteries aren’t written upon the face of nature for those with eyes to see to discern? He also asked if higher states of consciousness, truth, understanding, and ancient wisdom are within the sole repository of one group and its untraceable (not susceptible to objective verification) lineage?

My answer to this was the following, interpolated with some notes that came to my mind while preparing this post: Cosmic consciousness and Union with the ALL, as well as Immortality, is the birthright of every human. But there exists a particular set of techniques that may facilitate this birthright better than the slow and normal processes of Nature. These techniques, which mimics the way of Mother Nature but at the same time enhances it, constitutes a tradition and thus a lineage. Lineage, passed from a true initiator to the initiate, also confers direct changes of consciousness; this should be the case in all genuine initiation, also that of the Golden Dawn in the Outer, although changes in the latter are more subtle compared to initiations of a higher degree or arc.

Note: This fact is the reason why almost all of the yogic and tantric Far Eastern brethren emphasise the significance of correct lineage, tracing it back to some mythical figure or demi-god in the ancient past. The first thing that finds the newly initiated student is the narrative of the chain of past masters. Especially made mandalas containing a list of these (see image at the head for an example) are provided to the student to meditate upon to adjust his mind to the mindset of past masters and egregore. The Sufi orders of the Near Eastern brethren places equal emphasis on lineage; the student becomes humbled by the fact that by the hand placed upon him by his initiator he feels the grip of all the past masters back to Mohammed himself. In continental Europe a similar concept of lineage is a natural part of the Lodge culture in the different Martinist and Rosicrucian bodies.

This scorn against the notion regarding importance placed in lineage is a quite recent phenomenon and may almost be entirely restricted to the Anglo-Saxon domain or English speaking nations, although not if you trace your history further back than to the 1960’s when the old books by Aleister Crowley and Israel Regardie were repulished and widely circulated, serving as the source for the establishment of new Golden Dawn Temples without any trace back in history. Thus today it is politically incorrect in the Golden Dawn Community to claim any lineage whatsoever, because of this situation, and any such suggestions immediately becomes ridiculed by the reconstructionalist cohort.


But I must emphasize that there exist several different traditions (although they are not that different in essence, only in culture and language) which are probably equally effective, both in the West and the East. The particular tradition that the H.O.G.D./A+O teaches in its higest Grades is part of the Western Hermetic Alchemical Tradition, which has many similarities with Hindu and Tibetan Tantra and Daoist Internal Alchemy; there are some differences but many similarities – they are all part of the Alchemical Tradition. But Cosmic Consciousness and Union with the ALL, and perhaps even conscious Immortality, may be achieve by other means as well, such as contemplative mysticism and Theurgy. However, those who have experienced the true Alchemical Tradition (both Occidental and Oriental) knows that its formulae of energetic manipulation and transmutative powers of matter are second to none.

Note: Furthermore there exists several different European bodies within the Hermetic tradition of the Occident that do possess these mysteries, or at least parts of it. But in the Golden Dawn Community these higher and traditional teachings are extremely rare, with some few exceptions, not because it’s not accessible to them but because most teachers and leaders with an reconstructionalist bent aren’t at all intersted in it or even doesn’t believe it exists; they are suffering from a blind spot.

So in the final analysis, the querent in part was right that the mysteries of the ALL talks to us all through Nature. But I hold that there also exists man made formulae, based upon millennia of experience amongst a long chain of initiates, and highly evolved teachers which can provide a species of “short cut” to experiencing states of consciousness which are the innate part of Nature. This formulae are conferred through lineage, both in the Occident as well as in the Orient.

S∴R∴