Many people today who may not be familiar with Golden Dawn history,
and
the current
of Golden Dawn energy often get confused or mixed up with the
renegade
group that broke off of the Golden Dawn called Stella Matutina. The
majority
of groups today come not from the classical Golden Dawn, but from
breakaway
groups.
If the line of succession or transfer of magical current is important,
then it must
be remembered
that those who were demitted, resigned, or were expelled from the
Golden
Dawn have no more traditional authority to initiate than the common man
on
the street.
One reason for this is because they have sworn before the "Lord of the
Universe"
and their own Higher Genius that they would not initiate anyone without
permission
from the Chiefs of the Second Order. When you consider that a person
who has
resigned or been expelled is unlikely to receive such permission, then
we
can only
conclude that they do it of their own authority, not from the Chiefs of
the
Second
Order, and most certainly not the Guardians of occult wisdom the hidden
Masters,
or otherwise called the Chiefs of the Third Order.
With respect to some of the groups about to be mentioned, they have no
more
valid
lineage to the traditional Golden Dawn than your next door neighbor. This
does
not negate
the fact that they may be doing good work and helping people learn more.
Then again,
if their published material is an indication, we must be cautious. A great
majority
of so called published Golden Dawn material is outright bogus and riddled
with errors,
misunderstandings, and fantasy. It is not "good" Golden Dawn and only
serves
to confuse those who have not held original documents in their hands.
Without making this article overly long, I think it is necessary to examine
some
of the
accepted facts about the Golden Dawn and its colorful history. The Order
was
established
in 1887 by Dr. Westcott, MacGregor Mathers and Dr. Woodman, with
initiations
beginning in 1888. These three gentlemen established the Order after
finding
a set of initiatory documents called the Cipher Manuscripts. These
manuscripts
contained an address to a V.H. Soror S.D.A. in Germany. After an
exchange
of letters, an established line of communication between the three founders
in London
and V.H. Soror S.D.A. in Germany, a "charter" was granted for an outer
school
that taught western occultism. This chartered group became known as the
Hermetic
Order of the Golden Dawn.
There is much debate as to the validity of these Cipher Manuscripts and
the
actual
existence of a V.H. Soror S.D.A. in Germany. Many insiders in Golden Dawn
studies
and Golden Dawn scholars now postulize that Mathers and Westcott were
both secretly
initiated by the true and Ancient Order of the Rose and Cross (this
refers
to the Rosicrucians who came directly from Germany and had their line of
succession
with their founder Christian Rosenkrutz. He received numerous invitations
in various
parts of the world by Ancient Orders that could be traced back farther
than the
time of the ancient Egyptians.). The problem was that due to strict vows
of
secrecy,
Mathers and Westcott were completely unable to reveal that they had been
duly initiated
and authorized to formulate an Outer Order school to be called the
Golden
Dawn. To do this and to violate such an oath would be heinous indeed.
These
men valued their oaths to God and their Order. It is sad that those who
wave
the banner
of the Golden Dawn today do not have the same level of integrity. One
day they
are vowing to remain silent, the next moment they are writing another so
called
Golden Dawn book for profit.
In any event, the exact details to the founding of the Order are outlined
in some
of the
following books. Contrary to what many new age Golden Dawners think,
the Order
did not begin with Regardie. As a matter of fact, Regardie was never
even a
member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn! But we will talk about
that in
a moment.
Read the following for basic history. Remember that these authors only
write
from exposed
history, not the secret history.
Ritual Magic in England - Francis King
The Magicians of the Golden Dawn - Ellic Howe
The Golden Dawn Companion - R. A. Gilbert
The Sword of Wisdom - Ithell Colquhoun
It was after the establishment of the Golden Dawn that MacGregor Mathers
established
a complete Second Order. This Order had grades that went from 5=6,
Adeptus
Minor, to 7=4, Adeptus Exemptus. The Second Order was governed by
the Chiefs
of the Second Order. The Chiefs of the Second Order were guided by the
direction
of the Chiefs of the Third Order. These Chiefs of the Third Order were
real
and legitimate
human beings who had spiritually evolved to such an extent that they
had crossed
the great abyss of the Qabalistic Tree of Life. They were and are the
Guardians
of the Inner and Sacred Mysteries that were revealed to the Chiefs of the
Second
Order, who then disseminated it to the college of Adepti. Much of the
Second
Order work and the initiation itself was in fact not written by Mathers,
but
given
to him by the Chiefs of the Third Order. Who exactly these Chiefs are,
I
cannot
say. They do seem to have the direct power to invoke karmic consequence
upon oath
breakers and those who knowingly violate the precepts of the Order.
It must also be stated with direct clarity that anyone who is initiated
by a line or
current
that was formulated by an oath breaking founder will without doubt fall
under
the karmic
sword as that of the founder. In other words, it would be much like
receiving
a blood transfusion from someone suffering from hepatitis.
Around the turn of the century, the Second Order functioned and served
those
hungry
for occult wisdom for a number of years without any problems. Woodman
had died
and Westcott resigned as an active participate in the Order. It seems job
pressures
had forced him to resign. It is not readily known, but Westcott's
resignation
was not real. It was a ploy to protect his job and to place Mathers as
the
prime
focus and only connection to the Chiefs of the Third Order. In fact, Westcott's
signature
appears on various Order documents and grade advancements long after
he resigned.
The so-called disagreement between Mathers and Westcott was an
outward
diversion. In fact, letters and records show that Westcott and Mathers
were
in communication
after Westott's resignation. In one letter, Westcott loans Mathers
some money
long after their so called dispute. There was no dispute, but Westcott's
resignation
was designed to help the college of Adepti who had to focus on the
information
disseminated by Mathers from the Guardians of the hidden Mysteries,
the Chiefs
of the Third Order.
Because great power can affect the ego in negative ways, ego problems
developed
between many of the college of Adepti and the founder of the Order, S.L.
MacGregor
Mathers. Mathers was not in London at the time but living in Paris. The
Order
began doing things in its own way. Members wanted more power. Some
members
wanted to remove grades, some wanted to remove the practical magic,
others
like Dr. Felkin were busy following so called astral gurus like Arab Ben
Shemesh.
The Order collapsed; like the children of Israel who built the gold calf
when Moses
was on Mount Sanai, they completely became overtaken with their
own needs,
desires, and hunger for power. They schismed and, broke away from
Mathers
and the legitimate line or current of dependency. The connection to the
colorful
lineage that dated back to Christian Rosenkrutz and beyond was shattered.
The renegades
were now doing their own thing with no valid charter. They had no
legitimate
or direct lineage: the line was broken.
Due to public legal proceedings, Mathers changed the name of the Golden
Dawn to
the Alpha Et Omega. The Order cradling the Mathers-G.D. current has
undergone
several name changes since Mathers first changed the name. The break
away group
who had violated their Adeptus Minor vows changed the name to the
Stella
Matutina; as a matter of fact, it is quite an oddity that the current
trademarked
groups
borrowing the name "Golden Dawn" come from the Felkinized Stella
Matutina.
Again, much of this is accepted history and can be found in some of the
books
I mentioned earlier. In addition, to Mathers' Temple and those who remained
loyal
to the classical teachings, there were three Temples that were chartered
in the
United
States. They were Thoth-Hermes, Chicago; Ihme, Boston; and Themis,
Philadelphia.
Little is known about the Boston and Philadelphia Temples except for a
handful
of Adepts. These Adepts refuse to make known to the public their lineage
except
to say that they prefer not to claim lineage at all. This is the way of
the true
mystic,
and it applies equally to this article. I claim nothing special among you.
I ask
that you
test everything I am saying with the illumination of Light and Truth.
Dr. Felkin, moved to New Zealand to form a Temple and build a shrine to
his
master
Ara Ben Shemesh. He and his brethren waited for years for this master to
show up
in New Zealand and teach them great wonders. The Master promised he
would!
Felkin and his followers would have staked their lives on the fact that
Ara
Ben Shemesh
was going to arrive from the east and school them. They did, in fact,
stake
their lives on it because they all died waiting for him. He never arrived
as
promised.
Could this be a karmic payback for vow breaking by the Chiefs of the
Third
Order? I don't think so, but others disagree with me. Felkin had chartered
three
other Stella Matutina Temples in England. It is from the Hermes Lodge of
Felkin
that Dr. Israel Regardie claims his initiation. There are no records to
prove or
disprove
his claim, yet it makes absolutely no difference. Regardie was initiated
not
by the
line of Golden Dawn descendants, but by a lineage that could only be traced
back to
those who rebelled and broke their sacred oath.
In the meantime, after the breakup, Mathers continued his initiatic succession
and acted
as the official link between the ancient Rosicrucians of Germany and a
handful
of loyal Adepti who chose not to rebel. One must ponder the nature of the
rebellion
and understand from a psychological perspective why it occurred:
1.
Mathers was adamant that one's private life was his or her own and not
the business
of the Order.
2.
Adepts disagreed with Mathers. Members were ostracized and refused
admission
into the Second Order because their sexual preferences or morals
were not
in keeping with the Victorian morals of the time.
One must not be mislead. Mathers and his wife Moina both practiced
abstinence.
For them, it was part of the Inner Spiritual path of purity that they had
chosen.
However, Mathers never once attempted to force this path on his fellow
brethren.
It was strictly a personal choice. Yet the rebels who seemed lost in critical
review
of those Adepts who were living an alternative lifestyle developed perhaps
the
worst
sin any person on a spiritual path can develop - Spiritual Pride.
I know that even today there is one such group who still refuses to allow
qualified
members into the Second Order if they do not conform to their moral
dogma.
This group does not use the name Golden Dawn, but claims a lineage to the
Order
of the Golden Dawn.
There may be another reason why a group of dissident Adepts broke away
from the
Golden Dawn and formed their own uncharted egregore. It deals with the
same principle
as an adolescent rebelling against its parents. We must remember that
most of
these people knew nothing or little about practical Qabalah. Most of their
ritual
experience came from good ol' boy Masonry. They were comfortable with
ritual,
but unaccustomed to the use of power. Learning to control elemental and
planetary
forces takes a great amount of self-discipline. In short, the power went
to
their
heads and they needed to prove their power by rebelling against the one
person
who had
taught them how to obtain that power.
Mathers was not guilt free either. When the breakup came he had been leading
his Order
from Paris, France, for several years, almost like an absentee landlord.
This did
not help matters in that it allowed those who wanted control and power
to
scheme
and plot behind his back.
One real indication that the dissidents had no ability to handle power
was that
after
they broke away from the Golden Dawn, they began bickering and fighting
among
themselves. Even to this day the groups that trace their so called lineage
to the
dissidents
of the turn of the century are still at war with each other. Anyone knows
that there
is no love lost between the Cicero's and the Zalewskis in New Zealand.
In
addition,
the breakaway between Hyatt and Laura Jennings in Washington State was
another
shrapnel war. Not one of these groups work in harmony with any of the
others.
There is an absolute Hatfield and McCoy feud between all of them.
One reason could be that they all must claim their bloodline to the dissident
of
the turn
of the Century, not the Golden Dawn, not to Mathers, and not to the Third
Order
Chiefs who guide seekers after hidden wisdom and fraternal love and
brotherhood.
Today more than ever before there is a strong need in the world for a
well-organized
Golden Dawn Order that does not earn a living publishing books or
charging
outrageous dues and material fees. Modern day Masonry charges about
$150.00
to $200.00 to become a member. This seems about right. Anyone offering
"free"
membership has something else up their sleeve as the laws of energy exchange
should
tell us that nothing is for free.
One person joined such a group and was a member for about a year. There
were no
formal dues except a nominal $5.00 a month charge. After about a year this
middle
aged woman was told that evil forces were gathered about her and her
children.
She trusted these people because they were well known. Twenty thousand
dollars
later the so-called evil forces were gone and so was her savings account.
Beware of any so-called group not charging some kind of reasonable dues.
The Golden
Dawn is not like the Hari Krishna's or the local corner church, it is an
Order
that provides a full curriculum, testing, one-on-one teaching, classes
and full
initiations.
Later, after about twenty-four months, a student and member of the Golden
Dawn can
become (if accepted) a member of the Second Order. There are never
dues in
the Second Order, in that it is the teaching and governing arm of the Outer.
Here is a list of other Temples that flourished and were chartered under
the
Golden
Dawn with the Chief S.L.MacGregor Mathers. The following are not
break-away
Temples but duly authorized Temples.(Temple No. 3, Isis Urania was
the first
Temple that was chartered to Mathers.)
No.
1. Licht Liebe Und Leben: Nuremberg - Fraulein Sprengel (Soror
S.D.A.),
1870
No. 2. Hermanoubis Liege: Dr. Thyssen (L.E.T.) Dormant, 1889
No.
3. Isis - Urania: London - Dr. W. Wynn Westcott (S.A., N.O.M.) Dr. W.
R. Woodman
(M.E.V., V.O.V.) S.L. MacGregor Mathers (S.R.M.D.,
D.D.C.F.),
1888
No. 4. Osiris Temple: Weston Super-Mare - B. Cox (C.D.S.), 1888
No. 5. Horus: Bradford - T.H. Pattinson (V.V.M.), 1888
No. 6. Amen-Ra: Edinburgh - Dr. J.W. Brodie Innes (C.S.S.), 1894
No.
7. Ahathoor: Paris - S. L. MacGregor Mathers (S.R.M.D., D.D.C.F.),
1894
No. 8. Ihme: Boston U.S.A., 1895
No. 9. Themis: Philadelphia U.S.A., 1895
No. 10. Thoth-Hermes: Chicago U.S.A. - Mrs. Lockwood, 1895
No. 11. Alpha Omega (Isis Temple): W. London - Dr. E.W. Berridge
The
above list is the authorized Temples under Mathers, either S.L. or later
his wife
Moina,
who became Chief of the Second Order after his death. I might add that
there
was a valid succession that came out of American Temples that are still
operational
to this day.
(Source: Sword of Wisdom by Ithell Colquhoun)