When I was 14 there was a terrible song called "I have been to Paradise but I've Never been to Me" about a woman who had an interesting life but after living it to the full claims she would have rather have been a housewife stayed at home and had a couple of kids. It was a song designed for parody and I wrote one which was my party song for a while. I can unfortunately remember the lyrics and they were rather rude and not particularly good Perigrine Wildoak reminded me of the song the other day and I had another go at the lyrics only this time with a Golden Dawn theme. Consider it channelled by a secret chief
GD
WHY YOU NEVER SAY YOUR GRADE PUBLICALLY
The latest issue of Watchers of the Dawn brings up an interesting issue of what happens when you tell other people your Grade. This week both Martin Thibeault and David Griffin announced that they held high Golden Dawn grades. Martin said he was a 9=2 and David said that his order offered teaching up to 10=1 (which implies he holds that grade). Normally no one ever talks about their grade outside their order. There are two reasons for this. One is that people, like Watchers, will say that you are claiming to hold a grade which you cannot remotely have the spiritual experience for and they would equally question your motivation for claiming it. Martin points out that the grades are “administration only”
WHARE RA AND THE MODERN GOLDEN DAWN
A debate is starting to happen on whether or not the New Zealand Whare Ra order, which was the last Golden Dawn group with a direct lineage to the original order was better than the modern versions which have emerged since the 1970’s. The danger is that both sides can see themselves as better than the other, which would be completely untrue. For those who came in late, Whare Ra’s existence was first made known in a book published by Pat Zalweski in the 1980s. Zalewski, and his wife Christine were not a members of Whare Ra but was exclusively trained by one of its best Heirophants Jack Taylor. Later it emerged that Tony Fuller was also trained by a Whare
TEN TIPS FOR YOUNG OCCULISTS
Every elder thinks that the younger generations fails to respect them. As I am fast reaching the age where I am one of those “elders” I have started to notice the same irritation. I started this game young – I was 17 and I irritated my “elders” too. But in a completely different way from the way I am irritated now. I was the eternal student. I listened and asked questions and wrote a lot down. I remembered what was told, often reminding teachers what they had said in the past, or what others had said. If I struck what I thought was a contradiction I would ask about it. I did manage to swallow a lot of rubbish from a lot
ALEISTER CROWLEY & the GOLDEN DAWN
The Daily Mail, conspiracy nut-jobs and the born-again Christians make a big deal about the Golden Dawn because the so-called Black Magician Aleister Crowley was a member. Crowley’s own followers claim that the Great Beast was an influence on the Golden Dawn and was the living embodiment of the system, which only he had the power to change.The source of most of these various claims are Crowley himself. He was the only person to write down some events connected to the Golden Dawn and for some reason is seen by the people above as being truthful about what he saw. In fact, Crowley was spinning a story in which he was the central character and what is amazing is that many people
FILLING OUT THE GOLDEN DAWN RITUALS
Those who like to believe that the Golden Dawn rituals are perfect and cannot be adapted might be shocked to discover that I disagree and that there are parts of the elemental grade rituals which are just meaningless filler, mistakes or ideas that do not actually work. What is alarming is that some of these bugs have been in the rituals since 1888 and no one has dared to touch them because the order leaders have told them that they are perfect. As a result, they scan the rituals carefully to find a hidden truth that was probably not there in the first place. The GD rituals were written in a very short space of time to a particular template provided by
Magic is not for those who want to escape
A magician who would approach the throne of the Most High, must perfect a temple on the earth which has its roots in the underworld and the roof below the moon. This is the purpose of a magical life. You are not trapped in earth, you were sent. You are not imprisoned by life; it is your mission. The fates have spun their net for you and you must use it to be the best you can. One does not reject or demolish the temple that is built by the One Thing, to spit in the eyes of his Aeons and expect it to be pleased to see you. One of the great sins of the Gnostics, which was picked up by
THE GOLDEN DAWN UNDERWORLD INITIATION
There are those who like to see the Golden Dawn as all sweetness and LVX and assume that it would never touch those dark regions of the unconscious where demons and other nasty beings like hang out. Of course, since Christianity arrived and told the pagans that their terrestrial gods were all demonic and the underworld was hell, it has made life a little more black and white. However encoded into the Golden Dawn 0=0 is a formula which suggests that that particular ritual is a journey to the underworld of archetypal proportions. Your standard visit to the underworld, at least while you are alive, is to rescue something, a princess or the love of your life, and get away still alive without
HERMETIC TABLET IS NOW OUT
Truth ! Certainty ! That in which there is no doubt ! The Hermetic Tablet is a quarterly Journal of Western Ritual Magic where people, from all traditions, share their experiences. Some of the contributors are well known names in the occult field, while others are just those who want to share knowledge and experiences with the public. This issue includes articles written by the following writers: Jake Stratton-Kent, Mike Magee, Sandra Tabatha Cicero, Aaron Leitch, Christine Zalewski, Nick Farrell, Paola Farrell, Jayne Gibson, Samuel Scarborough, Harry Wendrich, Alex Sumner, Carman Lawrick, Bro. Yeheshua Netzach, Steve Nichols, Cynthia Caton and Alfonso Ricca. The Journal covers a wide range of different subjects all related to Western Ritual Magic, including Goetia, Theurgy, Angelic Magic, Ancient Egypt, and pagan ritual. There is something for anyone, from all spiritual traditions
THE RITE OF HELIOS MITHRAS
The purpose of this ritual is to attain a vision of your Higher Self in the form of the God of the Sun. It is based on the so called Liturgy of Mithras and it is a tricky ritual to do. It is a really ancient ritual (which is why some of it is a difficult read) and the original can be found here. I have placed it within a Golden Dawn ritual structure because I know that can produce the right level of purification and consecration required. You should prepare carefully for the ritual beforehand with a ritual bath. The ritual should be performed on a Sunday at noon. You should not do the ritual when the Sun in