Evocation: a matter of the Microcosm or the Macrocosm?

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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∴

Introducing the Magical Tie

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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∴

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

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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.

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The importance and significance of lineage and tradition

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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.

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Golden Dawn och Aristoteles lära om Elementen

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För ett tag sedan fick jag en fråga angående hur det kommer sig att Golden Dawn Traditionen placerar De Fyra Elementen på det sätt som görs i förhållande till väderstrecken, vilket frågeställaren ansåg vara unikt just för denna Tradition; Luft med Öster, Eld med Söder, Vatten med Väster, samt Jord med Norr.

Frågeställaren ifrågasatte Elementens attribuering till väderstrecken enligt detta arrangemang och förordade istället den lära som baserar sig på Aristoteles system av kvaliteter, dvs. torrt, fuktigt, hett och kallt, enligt arrangemanget nedan:


Detta arrangemang flyttar således på Elementen Vatten och Jord och får dem att byta plats med varandra, i enlighet med de diagonala tillskrivningarna av ”fuktigt & torrt” (Nordväst & Sydväst) samt ”varmt & kallt” (Sydost & Nordost). Jag anser dock att det finns en poäng med Golden Dawns korrespondens mellan Elementen och väderstrecken som jag presenterade ovan, vilket jag vill utveckla en aning.

Angående varför Jord bör associeras med Norr förklaras med att detta väderstreck är platsen för det största symboliska mörkret. Man kan se på de fyra väderstrecken som Solens resa under ett helt dygn, med soluppgången i Öster (Tempererat – Luft och Gult), solen i sin höjdpunkt i Söder (Intensivt – Eld och Rött), solen i sin nedgång (Tempererat – Vatten och blått), samt solen i sin lägsta punkt under horisonten eller i jorden (Inaktivt/passivt – Jord och Svart).

På samma sätt associeras årstiderna med de fyra Elementen; den tempererade Våren med Luft (det astrologiska/astronomiska nyåret där Solen ”föds” eller ”stiger upp” ur sin mörka dvala om vintern), den heta Sommaren med Eld (den varmaste årstiden), den tempererade Hösten med Vatten (den tid när Solen ”stiger ned” och går in i en nedbrytande ”döds-fas”, en årstid som ofta upplevs som fuktig och regnig), samt slutligen den kalla Vintern (den tid där solen är i sin mörka dvala och återigen befruktas vid vintersolståndet och tillåts gro fram till dess födelse vid vårddagjämningen).

En annan aspekt av det hela förklaras av den tantriska yoga-teorin om Tattwas eller Elementen (se illustration till höger). De utvecklas i ordningen Ande, Luft, Eld, Vatten och Jord. Tattwas är ju enligt detta österländska system ett uttryck för Solens prana (L.V.X. eller livskraft); för att återkoppla till Solens färd under dygnets fyra faser så ser man återigen denna följdordning från Öster och Luft till Norr och Jord i medsols ordning.

Det aristoteliska konceptet med Elementens ”dubbla kvalitéter” är Golden Dawn initierade väl förtrogna med – detta lärs ut redan till Neofyter. Men vi tillskriver inte det några väderstreck (vilket jag inte har hittat några referenser till att Aristoteles skulle ha gjort heller) och placerar inte direkt ut dem i Tempelrummet. Detta arrangemant över Elementen används mer som en alkemistisk illustration och tankebild om Elementens cirkulation och växlande karaktär.

Dock finns det ett viss antydan att man kanske gör det indirekt ändå i ett traditionellt Golden Dawn Tempel; i Salens hörn placerar man ut Horus Fyra Barn (de egyptiska kanopiska gudarna), vilket kanske något slentrianmässigt har associeras med Elementen. Det intressanta är att Jord och Vatten byter plats i Salen (Luft i Nordost, Eld i Sydost, Jord i Sydväst, och Vatten i Nordväst). Detta kan kanske istället vara en hänvisning till kvaliteterna: Imeshet i Nordost = fuktiget, Tuamataf i Sydost = hetta, Hapi i Sydväst = torrhet, och Kabexnuf i Nordväst = kyla. Vrider man detta arrangemang 45 grader i medsols riktning hamnar Elementen exakt som i Aristoteles system.

De Kanopiska Gudarna

Dock placerar man symboliskt i samma Sal Elementen i väderstrecken på det sätt som jag beskrev tidigare. Alltså betonar man den Solara kvalitéten i tillvaron. I mina ögon representerar de ”dubbla” kvaliteterna och kanopiska gudarna mer sinnliga aspekter av Elementen, medan det andra arrangemanget med Solens färd runt jorden och Tattwas succession belyser en mera exalterad och ”pranisk” eller ”eterisk” aspekt av Elementen.

S∴R∴

Dualism and the Golden Dawn

0

What is the position of Golden Dawn initiates on the subject of dualism? The answer to that question depends upon what one defines as being “dualist”. Golden Dawn initiates are NOT dualist as normally regarded by Christian, Gnostic and Zarathustrian doctrines. Thus we don’t believe in an evil force called “Satan”, or as the demiurge “Yaldabaoth”, or as “Ahriman”, in opposition to a good force called “God” or “Ormus”, etc. But we do believe in the two great polarities throughout nature, such as day and night, light and darkness, or male and female, etc. But as Hermeticists we also believe that these two great polarities are both part of GOD or The ALL. This relates the Hermetic tradition also with the Sabbathian Qabalistic tradition, where Evil is seen as part of GODHEAD. The seeming opposition between Evil and Good is only seen as antagonistical when viewed from the limited human perspective, but not if seen from the perspective of Godhead, where all opposites are reconciled. Here one must remember the teachings concerning the Triangle.

Golden Dawn initiates don’t regard physical existance to be an illusion or evil. We believe that the World we are living in actually exists. However as Hermeticists we believe neither in “Matter” nor in “Spirit” as absolutes in themselves, but rather regard these being denominative expressions signifying the two extremes in the continuum of frequency in what we could call a “substance”. Thus there exist only an illusion regarding what constitutes the true nature of matter, rather than that the world of action doesn’t exist as a phenomenon. There is no actual differentiation between LIGHT (L.V.X.), LIFE and CONSCIOUSNESS, or between the Subjec(ive) and the Object(ive).

Thus Golden Dawn initiates are NOT dualist in the sense of separating Spirit from Matter, or Soul from Body, which is often implied when defining the word “dualism”. But this kind of dualism is also related to the one I mentioned previously, as expressed through Gnosticism and some forms of Christianity, where matter or worldly existence is regarded as being the realm of the Evil One, while heaven is restricted to God.

It is true that Hermeticists and Qabalists, as well as Golden Dawn initiates, regard matter as in a fallen state. But with this fall also God fell down into the realm of Man and the World of Action and Manifestation. This created the separation of the Goddess aspect of Godhead from the God aspect, the former being trapped in Matter below while the latter was restricted to the Heavens above. But that both are of a divine nature is clearly evidenced by the Hermetic axiom “that which is above is as that which is below, and that which is below is as that which is above”.

This is seen in many faiths and pantheons, even in the Gnostic worldview where Sophia is trapped in matter. But Matter was not created by an evil entity, as in the Gnostic narration; it was created by the supreme Godhead (God-Goddess). But because of a cosmic catastrophe the feminine aspect of Godhead, the Divine and Great Holy Mother, became trapped in our World. In Qabalah this is known as the Shekinah, the presence of God in the World of Action. In the Tantric myth this referred to as Shakti, who ever longs to unite with her heavenly consort Siva.

The Alchemical Wedding

Thus the Great Work lays its emphasis upon this Alchemical Wedding between Heaven and Earth, aiming to erase any notions of separation between them. In Tantra and Yoga this is pictured in the awakening of the Serpent Power or Kundalini (the Shakti power), while in the Qabalah this is described as the “raising of the sparks” in the Tikkun ha-Olam. This is furthermore depicted in the Rite of the Qabalistic Cross. In its simple symbolism this rite resumes the entire purpose of the Great Work; the UNION of the Opposites, both in a “horizontal” and “vertical” manner. It is the foremost symbol of the Alchemical Wedding which conceives the Christos in the heart; the Universal Androgyne or Alchemical Hermaphrodite.

But it must be emphasized here that the primary goal in Hermetic Magic and the Great Work doesn’t imply any “ascension”, as is normally implied by this term; the main objective is to invoke and have the L.V.X. descending into matter (body) to raise its vibrations. For me “ascension” often implies leaving the body and matter behind, which in my opinion is counterproductive for all true spiritual work; it is a sign of escapism rather than spiritual attainment. The goal of the Great Work should be to integrate spirit and body into One Whole Unit for it to be able to create this Holy Alchemical Hermaphrodite. The outcome of this is cosmic consciousness or unity with the ALL – which is both spirit and matter, transcendent and immanent.

Read the second part of this essay here.

S∴R∴

Insurgence in the Golden Dawn

o

On winter solstice of December 21st, 2010, at the time of the Greatest Darkness, the world experienced a full lunar eclipse, meaning that the Sun and the Moon stood at direct opposition towards each other in their relation, Sol throwing a shadow instead of light over Luna. This implies a great unbalance between the two great opposites of existence, the divine feminine and masculine, the Great Mother and the Great Father, between the black and white Pillars, between mercy and severity, etc. This, I am conviced, has created a great cosmic occurrence. In my personal life – the microcosm – me and my family, and some of my relatives, immediately experienced disruptive currents, such as serious accidents and severe somatic sickness. Macrocosmically, we have lately seen uprisings and revolutions amongst the North African Arabic nations, first in Tunisia, then in Egypt and now in Libya.

Thus we are right now experiencing the direct effects of these severely disruptive and highly unbalanced currents, expressed as discontent and resistance against oppression of tyrants in our world. We have also seen this happening lately in the Golden Dawn community with the news of Robert Zink being expelled from the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn (E.O.G.D.). Exactly one month ago, on February 4th, this announcement, apparently written by a G.H. Fra. I.C.L., about Robert Zink’s expulsion from the E.O.G.D. was published on various official sites on the Internet. I now quote it in full:

Greetings in LVX,

It is come to the point where we of the Second Order have to take the unfortunate action of deposing former G.H. Frater P.D.R. (Robert Zink) of his highly influential position and expelling him from the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn. He received the grievances from the Adepti of the Second Order, but was still given a great deal of time and opportunity to reform his ways. In response to this, he persists to hold himself above accountability and has gone to great lengths to secure his own position through surreptitiously ensuring as much of the Order’s assets were under his sole control as possible. There are many grievances that the Body of Adepti has brought to him, however the main points that have lead to this final decision are as follows:

1. Robert Zink has taken thousands of dollars from Initiates and Adepti in return for promised products and services that he did not deliver on, nor refund. His poor business practices continue to afflict many Initiates and Adepti and, despite many promises of reform, he has shown no signs of changing or even slowing down.

2. Robert Zink has used the forums, materials and name of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn in connection with his personal products and services against the will of the Second Order and has refused to stop doing so. The result has been that the public and our own initiates perceive that our Order endorses his products and services. Let it be clear that the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn does not endorse his products and services, nor do we approve of them at all.

3. Robert Zink has created and uses several blogs and forums that he has connected with our Order’s name to make personal attacks on other members of the Golden Dawn Community especially, but not limited to, David Griffin. Let it be understood, that although David Griffin’s Order and ours operate under very different philosophies and interpretations of the Golden Dawn Tradition, we do not condone these attacks by Robert Zink and they do not reflect the attitudes of the Adepti of our Second Order.

4. Robert Zink has abused his position of influence along with his well-studied knowledge of techniques such as Neuro-Linguistic Programming and psychological manipulation to endear a substantial number of Outer Order initiates to his personal unpaid servitude. We find this practice cultish, detestable and in no way a reflection of the true principles and practices of the Golden Dawn Tradition.

5. Robert Zink threatened and in several cases has admitted to performing magic intended to cause harm upon several initiates and Adepti when they attempted to hold him accountable for his poor business transactions and mistreatment of members of our Order and their non-initiate family.

As a result of the above points, Robert Zink has sullied the spiritual and magical development of a great many initiates of our Order. In addition he has caused great and in many cases irreparable damage to our Order’s reputation and the reputation of the Golden Dawn Tradition as a whole in the eyes of the public.

It is for these reasons and many others not mentioned here that Robert Zink, formerly G.H. Frater P.D.R., is stripped of his rank, position, and authority and expelled from the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn.

Let it be understood that due to his surreptitious actions, the websites of our Order under the names of www.golden-dawn.org and www.esotericgoldendawn.com are under his personal control. All moneys, inquiries and applications sent via these websites currently go to him personally and do not go to our Order. Any personal information provided to his sites will ultimately be used by him as part of his marketing database to promote his personal products. No Temple of our Order supports him nor will perform initiations on behalf of those from whom he accepts money and applications. As such, any promise of initiation, astral or otherwise, that he makes will be a deception.

For the time being the official websites representing the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn as a whole will be those of our two Grand Temples: info.eogdisis.com and www.templeptah.org.

Sincerely and in LVX,
The Chiefs and Adepti of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn


APPROVAL RECORD:
The undersigned represent the entire body of the Second Order. With the exception of only a couple verbal responses, all approval statements are on file. It should be noted that all the Chiefs and Adepti of our Order, including the dissenting votes, agree that the accusations given above are true and that something must be done to protect the public and our own initiates. Those dissenting disagree only with the action of expulsion. With 3 Chief Adepti vs. 1 for expulsion and one abstention and the overwhelming approval of the Adepti of the Second Order, this act of expulsion is confirmed.

Approve, GH Frater AA, Chief Adept
Approve, GH Frater ICL, Chief Adept
Approve, GH Frater SI, Chief Adept
Abstain, GH Frater BT, Chief Adept, Nuance: Agrees that the accusations are true, agrees that Robert Zink's contact with the Outer Order should be cut
Disapprove, GH Frater TDL, Chief Adept, Nuance: Agrees that the accusations are true

Approve, VH Frater IC
Approve, VH Frater SD
Approve, VH Soror CMU
Approve, VH Frater CDD
Approve, VH Frater P
Approve, VH Frater VMP
Approve, VH Frater OOA
Approve, VH Soror RT
Approve, VH Frater MD (Ptah)
Approve, VH Frater MD (LLL)
Approve, VH Frater PV
Approve, VH Soror AEI
Approve, VH Frater ID
Approve, VH Soror POIO
Approve, VH Soror VPP
Approve, VH Frater FOF
Approve, VH Soror SM
Approve, VH Frater SA
Approve, VH Frater CE
Approve, VH Soror B
Abstain, VH Frater SLS, Nuance: Agrees that the accusations are true, agrees that Robert Zink's contact with the Outer Order should be cut
Abstain, VH Soror P, Nuance: Agrees that the accusations are true, agrees that Robert Zink's contact with the Outer Order should be cut
Disapprove, VH Frater DN (D), Nuance: Agrees that the accusations are true
Disapprove, VH Frater DN (T), Nuance: Agrees that the accusations are true, agrees that Robert Zink's contact with the Outer Order should be cut

Information regarding what has been actually happening behind the scenes has been very scarce, no doubt because of an ongoing power struggle within the ranks of the E.O.G.D. And we all know from history that the first victim of war is the Truth. The first impression one did get from the scarce information that was given to the world outside of the E.O.G.D. was that all Temples, including the “Grand Temples” of Isis and Ptah, had left Zink, only leaving him with his official E.O.G.D. web sites, and perhaps some few loyal Adepts. But recent information suggests that there actually is a serious power struggle going on amongst the original Grand Temple of Isis, located in Los Angeles, as it still seems to initiate people who apply through Zink’s web-page.

The first five people mentioned in the “Approval record” seems to be the governing body of the E.O.G.D., appointed by Zink himself as Chief Adepts of the Second Order, all being Greatly Honoured Fratres. And as we may see in the above quotation both of the G.H. Fratres B.T. and T.D.L., the former the Cancellarius and the latter the Imperator of the Isis Temple, have abstained or disapproved of Zink’s removal from the Order. Now, the other day G.H. Fra. B.T. wrote a quite interesting, albeit angry and frustrated, blog which sheds some more light upon what has really been going on for the last decade in E.O.G.D.s Second Order; it has a quite long history. Let me quote him:

You see, back in November of 2002, I believe it was, Robert [Zink] announced to the Second Order that he would now be the “full time viceroy” of the Order, and would therefore be collecting every cent of dues and fees from all the correspondence members of the Order. Then, when that wasn’t enough, he would call one of the Chiefs of the Temple of Isis at the time, and tell them what emergency it was he needed money for, and money would be sent to him from the Temple’s funds as well. This went on for years. When it came time to pay the Temple rent, or have the lights turned back on, or whatever, calls would go around, people in the Second would all pitch in, and usually it was GH Frater TDL and VH Frater ICL who would pay the most toward rent, since they made a bit more money than the others from their real-world jobs.

Then came times of uproar. Robert fucked the wrong people, threw the wrong people out of the Order (because they knew about his having fucked those people, because he told them, and they didn’t tell his wife, then when it all came out his wife demanded that he throw that individual out of the Order) and various things like this, along with all the other crap with taking money from people and all that.

Anyway, most of the Second Order was pretty pissed off at this time, so at Corpus Christi 2009 Robert appointed 5 “Chiefs of the Second Order”, hoping that would help. The Imperators of the Temples (of which there were 3 at the time) were appointed Chiefs, GH Frater TDL was pointed *THE* Chief, and myself and VH Frater ICL were appointed as co-chiefs who’s task was to assist GH Frater TDL in his role as Chief of the Second Order. The whole group of 5 were then supposed to be considered “The Chiefs of the Second Order”, and Robert declared that he himself would basically retire, go into the background, and act as a “Chief Advisor” to any of the Chiefs who wanted to consult him for advice.

Now, as you might have guessed, this was short-lived. By the following “Power Week” Robert announced that the Third Order (the invisible one that only Robert talks to) had made him “The Chief Magus” which is a new position that is above all the Chief Adepts. Then, later, like December of ‘09, a conference call and an email outlined the rules for how the whole Chiefs thing would work. It worked like this: Robert has veto power, but the Chiefs call the shots, except what Robert does. And, if Robert, TDL, and one other Chief says “we’ll do this” that trumped the other Chiefs. After some resigned and disgruntled mutterings, that proposal was left hanging without any signatures on it.

Anyway, since then there has been all kinds of uproar. […] The next day, ICL was moved by a contact with the “Third Order” (clearly not the same as Robert’s “Third Order”) to call everyone and ask them “do you agree that the accusations are true? do you agree that Robert should be taken out of contact with the Outer? do you agree that he should be thrown out of the Order?” and to post what he posted a couple weeks ago based on what people said.

So, it seems there is a power struggle going on between the G.H. Fratres I.C.L. (who seems to have been the one assembling the Adepts of the E.O.G.D. together to make the vote and writing the above quoted declaration) and T.D.L., the latter still supporting Zink even to the point of writing for his defence and still acknowledging him as “Chief Magus” of the E.O.G.D., in a typical propaganda style counter-declaration as an desperate attempt to gather back the flock into the fold. Now it seems that T.D.L. will be expelled as well by the same list of Adepts who expelled Robert Zink, if he doesn’t stop initiating candidates for Zink. So, what we probably are facing are two different E.O.G.D.s, both using the same name and probably making a fierce competition for members. This will probably become quite ugly, as Zink won’t leave without a hard battle, like some Gaddafi fighting against his own people until the bitter end. What we now are seeing are the signs of a possible civil war of the E.O.G.D.

Robert Zink & Muhammar Gaddafi

Now, I have been almost silent about this latest E.O.G.D. affair and about Zink’s expulsion, other than on Facebook and some short comments that I have made on other peoples blogs. My main motivation for this reluctance of mentioning to much to soon about it on my own blog has mainly been that up until now all of the information has been so scarce. The other reason has been that I have a hard time being civil when it comes to Robert Zink, so I prefer to shut my mouth. But because of the latest developments, which shows potential danger to the overall Golden Dawn community, I have decided that the time is ripe for me to finally express my official opinion. And already on the onset I want to applogize for my relentless attitude and severe opinions regarding Robert Zink, that I now finally have dared to air in the open.

Well, it shouldn’t come to anyone’s surprise that I’m not a great fan or admirer of Robert Zink. In my opinion, without taking account for his cultic, manipulative and criminal behaviour against his own rank and files of the E.O.G.D., fitting all the necessary criteria in the DSM-IV to be diagnostized as a psychopath (which is a irreversible sickness of the soul), he has turned his own vision of the Golden Dawn into a New Age franchise, which I fully reject as being anything but “Hermetic”. I have written quite extensively about this spirito-capitalist phenomenon on this blog before, having had Zink all the time in the back of my head, regarding:

1. Astral initiation; defending traditional physical initiation and its relation to the Emerald Tablet of Hermes.
2. Angels workshops.
3. Ruah healing.
4. The Law of Attraction.

So, naturally my initial reaction to the news of the E.O.G.D. expulsion of Robert Zink was an all out satisfaction. But the matter is of course not that simple and definitely not as easy at it might have seemed at the outset. My initial feelings of content soon transformed into some form of prudent hopeful expectation. Today I am quite worried as to the amount of influence that Zink still might have upon the E.O.G.D.; is he still pulling the strings at least on part of its operation?

The reactions to this “rebellion” or expulsion have not been wanting from other quarters. Some are overly positive, some others are questioning the right of any body of Adepts “expelling” its Chief Adept, which I agree definitely is against traditional Golden Dawn protocol. The only right thing to do now, according these same critical voices, is to change the name and create a wholly other egregore, as the E.O.G.D. egregore supposedly “belongs” to Zink as he, being its Chief, innately created it and its peculiar culture in the first place. Either this latter position, or a total silence, has also been the norm of official reactions from other Golden Dawn organizations, with the exception of the Order that I represent in Scandinavia, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Outer Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega (H.O.G.D./A+O), who immediately offered its assistance towards the E.O.G.D. independent of Robert Zink.

Some days ago Soror F.S.O. / P.O.I.O., who has been something of a spokes person for the “non-Zink” E.O.G.D. on both Facebook and her blog “Flight of Hermes”, answered this whole question regarding the right to vote for the expulsion of Zink. Let me quote the relative portions from her blog, which I feel needs to be repeated:

First and most importantly I want to be very, very, clear that Robert was not expelled due to a vie for power amongst the Adepti of our Order, nor because we did not “like” the way Robert was running it. Robert Zink was expelled because he was victimizing the students who joined our Order through the illegal activities of theft, credit-card fraud, and inappropriate sexual advances to the female members of the Order. These activities became so gross and so often (daily) that as an Order (Outer and Inner) we were forced to take extreme measures.

Secondly, I would like to make it known that Robert was not the “founder” of our Order. Although he may have been appointed Chief and held that title for many years, he did not start the Order. The Order was started by a group of individuals, who after seeing a time of intense growth within their group decided to vote on a Chief after a round of testing. Robert was voted in as Chief, along with two other Chiefs (three in all) and as such he was voted out and expelled when he failed for over twenty years to fulfill his duties as a spiritual leader.

Thirdly, I would like to point out that throughout the history of our Order, the culture, presence and current was created by the group of people who worked very diligently to make this Order grow and thrive despite Robert’s continued efforts to sabotage it...not by Robert himself.

Lastly, we have not changed the workings of the Order thus far because it is the Order that we love, an Order that was created by the blood, sweat, and tears of many, many people with the markings of all these people’s efforts. For as long as I have been around I have not seen Robert put one cent into the Order, nay he has spent many years instead draining Temple funds, scaring away our students by charging gas, snacks, and little league parties on their credit cards without permission. Every Temple, every tool, every Power Week has been accomplished because of the sheer will and dedication of the members, and it is to the members that the Order shall go.

My personal opinion about this voting business held against the insurgents of the E.O.G.D. is quite simple. What actually is truly fantastic in this whole saga is how a self-initiate can proclaim himself to be a “Chief” of a Golden Dawn Temple (and a “true custodian of the Golden Dawn Tradition”) in the first place. That is beyond me. No Adeptus Exemptus that I know or have heard of either initiated Zink through the Grades or authorized him to become Chief Adept over a Golden Dawn Order. According to Zink’s first wife, Sonya Neiman Zink, who supposedly was a co-founder of the E.O.G.D. back in the days when it was referring itself to as the “Eternal Circle of Light”, soon to be known as the “Hermetic Order of the Eternal Golden Dawn International”, both she and Robert Zink self-initiated themselves using published literature and the guidance of an Ouija board, the latter technique soon developing into Zink becoming the one and only true vehicle of “The Third Order”.

Thus I fully support the insurgence against Robert Zink and of the E.O.G.D. ousting him out. This has been long overdue, as can be proved by the official accusations made against Robert Zink from his own people, which are extremely severe and compromising indeed. It is my opinion that the public should be told without any reservation about Zink’s true character and that whatever he represents has nothing whatsoever to do with neither the Rosicrucian tradition nor the Golden Dawn current. So, in fact I do extend my personal salutations to all E.O.G.D. members, Outer Order initiates and Second Order collage Adepti alike, who finally has shown the courage and determination through these times of test and trial.

Today the Collage of the Adepti of the E.O.G.D. does a greater service to the public than they ever have done before. Accusations of this kind against Zink from others and outside of the E.O.G.D. may easily be dismissed off as simple “rumours” or “slandering”, especially if they come from other Golden Dawn leaders or representatives such as yours truly. Today, nobody can deny that all the rumours and accusations held against Robert Zink in the past, either by ex-members or other parties, were true all along. So, today I may speak freely for the first time ever about my own experience of the E.O.G.D., when it was known as the Hermetic Order of the Morning Star International, without the risk of anyone denying the truth in my words.

I believe it was back in 2002 when Robert Zink and his organization was experiencing their first severe crisis which almost destroyed it, resulting in an entire Temple leaving him, and even his web page closing for some time. Just prior to all of this happening one of Zink’s loyal Adepts living in Sweden by a sheer fumble happened to send a e-mail to the admin of the H.O.G.D./A+O, which happens to use the same domain name as the E.O.G.D. with the exception of .com instead of .org. So, this Adept sent us an e-mail writing @golden-dawn.com by mistake. Whatever information was contained in that letter was outrageously compromising. It seems that Zink was using a network of Adepts to perform a Saturnian working with the intention to bind the parents of children, being members of the same soft ball team as his own child, because Zink was experiencing some kind of opposition from these parents. Thus Zink was manipulating his own Adepts, being members of a Collage who traditionally are expected to work the Magic of Light, to instead perform black magical operations just to serve Zink’s own selfish ends. I happen to have read this letter myself, although I don’t have it anymore as that computer has crashed a long time ago. But reading that letter I became personally convinced that Robert Zink was truly evil and his Adepts were acting as partners in crime.

So, naturally we must address the issue of shared responsibility of abuse made against E.O.G.D. members and others, amongst the rank and file of the E.O.G.D.s Collage of the Adepti. The remaining members of the E.O.G.D. are going to face a juridical process of its own ranks in the Hall of Maat, as has often been the case in countries that has overthrown years of tyrannical oppression. As some have pointed out, Zink’s systematic exploitation of his own members couldn’t have been so effective without either the active participation or passive consent of other members and Adepts of the E.O.G.D., of which I myself obviously have seen proof. Hopefully, most of Zink’s fellow perpetrators have followed with him, but probably not all of them. Thus there have been voiced several accusative opinions and feelings of bitterness from ex-members also against the rebels amongst the E.O.G.D. Adepti. What took them so long? Why didn’t they react earlier than now?

Questions of this kind are understandable. One of my clients, who was abused as a child in a juvenile institution, recently told me that the worst abusers wasn’t the people beating him up, but the other members of the staff who chose to look the other way. Thus I can understand the sentiments of bitterness amongst the victims of Robert Zink and his loyal staff. But in most democratic nations there has always been room for amnesty in cases where former perpetrators, that is the tools of tyranny not the tyrants themselves, both has admitted to their crimes and been transparent in their confessions, furthering the juridical processes with their own testimonies. As Rosicrucians – being that of Christian Esotericists – we must also practice the way of the heart, i.e. that of compassion and forgiveness, after a needed period of severity, being the revolt itself. Remember the adage taken from our sacred Neophyte Ceremony:

Study well that Great Arcanum, the proper equilibrium of mercy and severity, for either unbalanced is not good; unbalanced severity is cruelty and oppression; unbalanced mercy is but weakness and would permit evil to exist unchecked, thus making itself as it were the accomplice of that evil.

The words “accomplice of that evil” is what I have address in the last two paragraphs. However, Robert Zink himself, as well as the actual tyrants themselves, is beyond redemption, or at least it is not the karma of the E.O.G.D. to forgive him for his sins against its integrity, in the same manner as it isn’t the responsibility of the raped woman to forgive her rapist. I may sound harsh here, but I again invoke the words of wisdom from the Hall of Neophytes, as well as my own therapeutic knowledge regarding psychopathology of this severe kind; there are no working remedies against severe psychopathic personality disorder such as Zink apparenty is displaying. So all of this blessing that lately have been seen on the Internet, sent toward both the remaining ranks of the E.O.G.D. and towards Zink himself in the same message, is ridiculous and naive. It is the insurgents of the E.O.G.D. who really needs our blessings and full attention in this though process of healing and therapy, which they undoubtedly will have to face in their egregore as a collective.

Furthermore, this shared responsibility also applies to the broader Golden Dawn community leadership who has giving Zink their passive and active consent in his activities during the last decade, being quite aware of the cult-like behaviour of his organization. Not that long ago Zink were invited to a Golden Dawn conference hosted by a well known and respected Golden Dawn leader, participating with the lot of the leaders and other well known authors of various Golden Dawn factions. Quite recently another well respected Golden Dawn leader and author even recommended enquiring candidates to enroll to Zink’s astral initiation scheme, because of the competition that it provides against the H.O.G.D./A+O. Thus officially, Zink has been adopted by the Golden Dawn family, and his authority as Chief has never been questioned by the other Chiefs. Perhaps some of this phenomena may be explained by the axiom of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”?

Thus I’m only aware of one Golden Dawn organization, and leader, openly criticizing Zink for his activities for the last decade – the H.O.G.D./A+O and David Griffin. And because of this both the H.O.G.D./A+O and David Griffin has been severely criticized not only by E.O.G.D. members and Zink himself but by many others as well, even to the point of some individuals being cynical in their opinion regarding the recent gesture made by the H.O.G.D./A+O towards Zink’s insurgents. Therefore it is comforting to know that all of the attacks from Zink against the H.O.G.D./A+O don’t at all represent the attitudes of the E.O.G.D. Adepti. All this time, it was Zink’s own personal war, nothing else. Manipulative as he is, he surely also took advantage of the naivety and dependence of some of his members and used his skills in power tactics to make them throw accusations against the H.O.G.D./A+O, David Griffin and even against yours truly. However, I have also received secret e-mails from some Adepts of the E.O.G.D. in the past who actually has appreciated my critique against Zink’s practices outside of the hallmarks of our Tradition.

So it is easy to point fingers towards the Adepti of the E.O.G.D. who finally, albeit late, took their responsibility and said “Enough!” instead of looking at the mirror and asking oneself, “what could I have done to prevent serious fellow initiates and innocent spiritual seekers to be victimized by the predator Robert Zink?” Nobody from the outside gave Zink’s victims nor his own opposition within the E.O.G.D. their support, other than the one exception already mentioned. What I have understood, outsiders criticizing Zink and the E.O.G.D. have instead been told by their Chiefs to shut up and minding their own business, i.e. “doing the Work”. It seems that this policy hasn’t changed even in the face of a total revolution. Contrary to this I hold that the Golden Dawn community must be vigilant and take its responsibility against all abusers calling themselves the Golden Dawn. Does the Golden Dawn community need another Horos Scandal to finally awake?

Robert Zink + Laura Horos = true?

And against the accusations why it took so long for G.H. Fra. I.C.L. and his followers to take action, I might give my tentative answer: Timing. Breaking the shackles of oppression takes time, preparation and above all timing. Not just timing in a sociological and psychological sense, but also in a cosmic or astrological, of which I spoke in the opening paragraph. Just look at the insurgencies spreading through North Africa as we speak; here we really can talk about timing and synchronicity being a necessary prerequisite. Why then, some have asked, stay for so long while these kind of abuses continues without any hope for bettering on Zink’s part (remembering he is a psychopath)? Perhaps because one has the hopes that at least if I do my work properly in guiding serious aspirants to the limits of my ability, perhaps I can do something to alleviate the damage done by the perpetrator.

I have always sensed that there are really serious and good Adepts and teachers in the E.O.G.D., despite of whatever Zink teaches and trains them to do, and despite what shocking information I might have read in that misdirected letter back in 2002. There are obviously members of the E.O.G.D. that have been benefited by their membership, not because of Robert Zink but despite of him, thanks to hard working Adepts and senior members. I’m convinced that it is possibly to feel responsibility and loyalty towards the Golden Dawn Tradition as a whole, trying to ignore the bad apple who also happens to sit as Chief of the Order one belongs to. And to me it seems that those who finally has taken the initiative to make such a severe opposition, being so honest about it and whatever damage their expelled Chief has done towards both themselves, their organization and the greater Golden Dawn community over the years, are guided by people who feel such a loyalty towards the Golden Dawn itself and towards their students. That’s why I support them, and that’s why I will turn my back against Robert Zink and all the bad apples that for whatever reason feel the need to follow him and partake in his continuing evil mischief making.

Now, Robert Zink in his messianic fervour has identified himself with S.L. MacGregor Mathers and the majority of the Collage of the Adepti of E.O.G.D. with the rebels of the Stella Matutina, delusions of gradure that are quite usual amongst schizoid paranoid types such as Zink. I have seen this myself on Facebook in some of his commentaries. Therefore I believe that it is highly dangerous to compare the E.O.G.D. revolt with the original Golden Dawn schism, as I have seen being implied by some outside observers. This is exactly what Robert Zink wants to hear, he himself of course assuming the dead ghost of Mathers. History don’t repeat itself in this instance as one cannot honestly compare S.L. MacGregor Mathers with Roberts Zink; Mathers was not a criminal whatever beliefs we may have of him and whatever lies Crowley may have spread about his former mentor.

But whatever will be the outcome of this insurgence against Zink, he will surely continue with his New Age business of “alchemy” mentoring of the Law of Attraction, overpriced “communion with angels” and Reiki style “ruah healing” workshops, despite of him being sacked from his own Order. I just wish he didn’t append the Golden Dawn label to it anymore and in the future, which he probably will anyway.

In ending I personally wish the best for the remaining membership and staff of the E.O.G.D. and hope they find strength to pull this insurgence through all the way, without any interference from either Zink or anyone else, me included. However, I must finish with one important advice to the current leadership of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn: for God’s sake (and for that of your initiates), please drop the practice of “astral initiation”. Now, in these times of great change, it is also the right timing to change your own current ways to comply with the hallmarks of the Golden Dawn Tradition, and to that of Rosicrucianism. Other than this, steer your body of initiates steady on the straight and narrow pathway; live well and prosper in Light, Life and Love.

S∴R∴