Temporal vs. the Primordial Tradition

PEREGRIN WILDOAK wrote a quite interesting statement today:

Though I am likely to invoke the wrath of a few anti-Christian nutters out there, it is quite clear that the sources for modern western magic developed within the Christian milieu. The background and backbone of many modern traditions, Rosicrucianism was started by heterodox Christians and is replete with Christian imagery and mysteries. This is a different thing to saying modern western magic is Christian.

I wonder, does Mr. Wildoak believe that it was Christians who invented Magic (Theurgy) and Alchemy? And that it later developed into a non-Christian or pagan tradition? At least that is how I read that sentence. And even if he actually doesn’t mean that, chances are high that others might read his words just as I did. So I have to set the record straight in this matter for the benefit of the gentle reader.

Actually the reverse is true to what Mr. Wildoak is stating; the Christian tradition emerged from the pagan. Only a Trinitarian Christian, such as Mr. Wildoak, can believe otherwise or that it fell from the sky, in a literal sense. True initiates know that both alchemy and magic stems from the Chaldean and Egyptian pagan traditions, later distilled through the Greek and subsequently Hellenistic pagan traditions into the Hermetic, Neo-Platonic and Gnostic schools of late antiquity and early medieval era.

A Wahabi saving the soul
of a Sufi heretic

In time the monotheistic religions absorbed parts of these streams, which later emerged as the Hebrew Qabalah, Esoteric or Gnostic Christianity, and the Islamic Sufi traditions. Thus the esoteric undercurrents of these three monotheistic religions developed more “pagan” traits compared to their exoteric cousins. Some orthodox Jews considers the Qabalah to be a pagan heresy. Wahabi fundamentalists decapitates Sufis whom they regard to be pagan heretics, etc.

Christianity originally emerged as a mainly Gnostic and Esoteric tradition, or mystery religion, being under a heavy influence of the Alexandrian schools of thought that was current during the first Century AD, thus having many similarities with the contemporary Neo-Platonic, as well as proto-Qabalistic groups of the Middle East. With time more exoteric forms of devotion and theology emerged in the Christian community, and after the Church council of Nicaea in AD 325 the original Esoteric Christian current finally was suppressed and forced to go underground where it has stayed since then.

Compared to the Jewish faith, the Christian sects originally nurtured many ideas that were leaning towards paganism, such as the use of iconography, the concept of hypostases (three distinct divine personages, plus the “mother of God”), the belief in a redeeming man-god, etc. Thus in the Christian tradition you will find many pagan concepts. This is why it was so easily appropriated by the Hermetic Adepts, who used its imagery to veil their basically pagan magical and alchemical traditions.

Giordano Bruno

It is true that Rosicrucianism was founded by Christians. And yes, they were church-goers (which for all practical concerns were mandatory). And although some of them were pious and devout as seen by the Church, most were only acting as nominally exoteric Christians. In their small esoteric circles they professed a faith that had nothing in common with the one taught by the Church. That they were “heterodox” as Mr. Wildoak asserts is an understatement. I dare to suggest that they were much more than this; I see them as inherently antinomian who would have been considered to be heretical by the Church if their conversations were overheard by the clerics. Some of them were burned at the stake for their beliefs when being to outspoken, such as Giordano Bruno. Many others were imprisoned, such as Tommaso Campanella. Even our own hero John Dee was incarcerated because of his occult practices.

The Rosicrucian faith were certainly not “Trinitarian Christian” as that term is normally defined, even if they did believe in the hypostases (remember that the concept of Father, Son and the Holy Ghost originally was a Gnostic concept, however not as we know it today). But their theology or theosophy cannot be compared to the officially approved teachings of the Church. The Rosicrucians rather belonged to the undercurrent of the Esoteric Christian tradition, and Gnostic even, that had survived since AD 325 and now was gaining new momentum.

Thus, contrary to what Mr. Wildoak wants you to believe, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® is not “anti-Christian” at all. On the contrary, it encourages an Esoteric Christian magical pursuit for its Christian oriented members. To be an Esoteric Christian implies studying the Christian symbolism also in the context of its pagan and Hermetic roots. An Esoteric Christian doesn’t believe Christianity to be the only and true religion, nor does he consider himself to be chosen by God in virtue of his Christian faith. On the contrary, he believes the Christian religion, its symbolism and mythology, to be the latest version of the mysteries of the dying god. An Esoteric Christian can invoke the god-form of Osiris as easily as he invokes the name of Jesus.

Thus true Rosicrucianism has nothing to do with concepts as expressed on the web page of the (once schismatic and now in full amity with the S.R.I.A.) Order of the Rose and Cross back in 2007:

We believe that the Anglo-Saxon and associated Indo-European cultures are the spiritual and literal descendants of these “lost ten tribes of Israel,” representing God’s chosen people as mentioned in the Old Testament.

We believe in the inevitability of the end of the world and in the Second Coming of Christ. We believe that the coming “end times events” are part of a cleansing process that is needed before Christ’s kingdom can be firmly established on earth. During this time, Satan and his allies will attempt to destroy God’s chosen people using any means available. The result will be a violent and bloody millennial struggle, in which Christians shall battle Satan and the forces of evil. Many will perish, and some will be forced to wear the Mark of the Beast merely to participate in business and commerce. After the final battle is ended, however, Christ’s kingdom shall be established on earth, and Christians be recognized as the one and true Israel.

A true Rosicrucian would never interpret the teachings of the New Testament in this literal and exoteric fashion. As his Gnostic ancestors the Rosicrucian interprets the Book of Revelation as an analogy, as a metaphor for spiritual and primarily internal processes.

Contrary to what Mr. Wildoak believes, Rosicrucianism isn’t primarily a Christian denomination; it definitely isn’t a Trinitarian Christian tradition. It is a Hermetic tradition steeped in Christian symbolism. It presents the alchemical tradition using Christian mythology, as well as Greek. In short it uses the current cultural context to explain its ancient teachings. So what we see here is a ancient or Primordial Tradition being clothed or cloaked in a modern tradition.

The Rosicrucians 

Using the definition of the word “tradition” by René Guénon and Frithjof Schuon of the Traditionalist School – i.e. the concept of the Primordial Tradition – we may understand this difference in a clearer light. What Mr. Wildoak is addressing here is the cultural or temporal tradition (in this case the Rosicrucian), which is in contradistinction with the Primordial Tradition (that is the Chaldean-Hermetic). While we may argue what Guénon and Schuon actually meant with “Primordial” I easily may see that the idea of a tradition practiced by the ancients fits this concept nicely. Take away all the temporal and cultural coats from any tradition (the peeling of an onion) and you will see the true and underlying (i.e. primordial) tradition emerging at the core.

A temporal or culturally coloured tradition, such as the Rosicrucian, cannot be considered to be a “source” or “backbone” for the modern magical tradition as we see it today. The word “source” for me implies the primordial tradition. And for me “primordial” doesn’t refer to a numinous or spiritual plane as is commonly understood in the modern traditionalist school. I rather see it as a pre-ancient historical era when the proto-tradition emerged transforming itself from the purely animistic state of Shamanism into the more sophisticated pagan Alchemical and Magical Tradition of the Chaldeans, and which later became exported westward to Egypt where it developed into the Hermetic Tradition and also eastward to the Orient where it developed into the Tantric and Daoist Traditions.

For each development and cultural adaptation the Tradition gradually lost its primordial qualities and introduced temporal and local varieties which diluted its original form. This continued further with the emergence of the Alexandrian schools, which later in blending with the Hebrew merkabah tradition developed into medieval Qabalah. During the renaissance the Qabalah was further blended with Hermeticism within the context of the Christian cultural sphere, diluting the Primordial Tradition further, which eventually produced the Rosicrucian Tradition.

Today we see the Golden Dawn system as a modern magical tradition, being a direct lineal descendent of the Primordial magical and alchemical Tradition of the Chaldeans. Although it is a temporal tradition, steeped in our Occidental and modernist paradigm – including its art forms and sciences – it still has traces left from the Primordial Tradition. But it is a maze or labyrinth to find one’s way to that True Source. You have to have the keys to unlock the Golden Dawn System of Magic and to unleash its powers according to the original intents of the Primordial Tradition. To be able to receive these keys you have to have access to the key-holders and gate-keepers of the Primordial Tradition, which we know by the “decknamen” the Third Order.

The Third Order is not Christian, though it did create the Christian-oriented Rosicrucian Tradition to use Christian symbols to veil the Traditional magical and alchemical teachings; its initiates were the ones who introduced Christian symbolism and metaphors into the alchemical tradition in the first place. Verily, the Third Order is truly pagan as it has for its mission to preserve the original and Primordial Tradition. It does that by veiling its teachings in the current cultural and religious paradigms. Thus the source of the modern western magical and alchemical system is not Christian – it core is Pagan.

Contrary to what Mr. Wildoak and his reconstructionist friends asserts and tries to convince you, my gentle reader, to believe this Pagan and Primordial Tradition has never ceased to exist. It is still here amongst us, working behind the scenes to guide all of the temporal traditions that it has created so that these may retain their relative state of authenticity and thus not deviate to far from Tradition. This is the reason why the Third Order stepped in once more to save the Golden Dawn tradition from reconstrutionist tampering and even more so from the clutches of Trinitarian Christian domination, such as in the example quoted above which has a smack of Religious Fundamentalism.

 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∴