HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

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2004-08-24 18:27:53

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THE HERMETIC ORDER OF THE GOLDEN DAWN

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, a Ceremonial Magick tradition was formed and became the most influential Western occult society of that time, (though it now appears it was built on a foundation of duplicity.) Members included, WB. Yeats, AE. Waite, Aleister Crowtey, and other noted occultist. The Golden Dawn had an elaborate hierarchy composed of three degrees. The key founder was Dr. William Westcott, a London coroner and a Rosicrucian. In 1887 Westcott 'claimed' to have discovered a manuscript in brown ink cipher from a Reverend A.F.Woodford, a Mason. The manuscript appeared to be old, but probably was not. From his Hermetic knowledge, Westcott was able to decipher the manuscript and discovered it concerned fragments of rituals for the "Golden Dawn" a then unheard of occult order.

Westcott asked an occultist friend, S.L. MacGregor to flesh out the fragments into full-scale rituals. Such papers were evidently forged to give the Golden Dawn authenticity and history. (It claimed to be an old German occult order.) Westcott produced papers that showed he had been given a charter to set up an independent lodge in England. The Isis-Urania Temple of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was established in 1888, with Westcott, Mathers and Dr. W.R. Woodman, Supreme Magus of the Rosicrucian Society of Anglia, as the three chiefs. The secret society caught on and 315 initiations took place during the society's heyday, from 1888 to 1896. At some point in time, it is believed one of their candidates was Gerald Gardner.

An elaborate hierarchy was created consisting of 10 grades or degrees, each corresponding to the 10 sephiroth of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, plus an 11th degree for neophytes. The degrees were divided into three orders: Outer, Second and Third. One advanced through the Outer Order by examination. Initially, Westcott, Mathers and Woodman were the only members of 2nd Order, which centered around the Kabbatistic Tree of Life, and they claimed to be under the direction of the 'Secret Chiefs of the 3rd Order', who were entities of the astral planes! Mathers rituals were based largely on Freemasonry. After Woodman died, Mathers produced the initiation ritual for the Adeptus Minor rank and renamed it The Ordo Rosae Rubeae et Aurae Crucis, or the Order of the Rose of Ruby and Cross of Gold. Initiation was by invitation only.

There were reports of magickal warfare, astral vampires and armies of demons fighting for control among the unstable personalities of the Golden Dawn, however, during it's height, it probably possessed the greatest known repository of Western magickal knowledge. Three magickal systems were taught. The Key of Solomon, (a grimoire of incantations) Abra-Melin the Mage (Abrgtmelin magick) and Enochlan magick, invented by John Dee, (royal astrolger to Queen Elizabeth I). Materials were incorporated from the Egyptian Book of the Dead, Blake's Prophetic Books, and the Chaldean Oracles. Instruction was given in astral travel, scrying, alchemy, geomancy, tarot and astrology.

In 1917, Ateister Crowley, wrote a satirical book, Moonchild, based on the Golden Dawn's unending internal squabbling and magickal warfare. His most famous writings, however, are volumes called The Equinox, recently reprinted after many years. Israel Regardie, broke his oath by publishing all, in the Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic. Mathers translated Abra- Melin.

Ceremonial magick is not witchcraft, however some Golden Dawn material has been incorporated into numerous neo-pagan witchraft traditions, therefore I have included it in this paper.

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