WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT the GOLDEN DAWN Copyright © 1983 by the Israel Regardie Foundation
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WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE GOLDEN DAWN Copyright © 1983 by The Israel Regardie Foundation All rights reserved. No part of this book, in part or in whole, may be reproduced, transmitted or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except for brief quotations in critical articles and reviews. International Standard Book Number: 0-941404-15-3 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 83-81663 First Edition 1936 Second Edition 1971 Third Edition, revised 1983 Falcon Press, 3660 N. 3rd. St. Phoenix, Arizona 85012 (602) 246-3546 Manufactured in the United States of America CONTENTS Foreword VII Introduction XIII The Golden Dawn 7 Scandal 27 Light 56 Darkness 94 Light in Extension 120 Some Modern Critics 141 Suster's answer to Howe Mathers' Manifesto 181 LIST OF ERRATA Page 15. 4th line from the bottom, last word "with" should be "within" 39. 3rd. Delete "s" from "Obligations". 28th. First word should be plural "poseurs". 31st. "dubions" not "budious". 56. 28th. Subsititue comma for period. Delete "And" after origin and insert "then". 58. 4th line from bottom. Delete last "e" in employes. 68. 17th. Delete "one of". 72. 3rd. "Portal" not "portal". 32nd. "Commit" not "comit". 82. 25th. "animo" should be "anima". 83. 14th. "Tipharath" should be "Tiphareth". 87. 11th. "Offiice" should be "office". 88. 10th. "are" should be "were". 99. 15th. "about" should be "above". 102. 24th. "indentical" should be "identical". 107. 17th."was" should be "is". 109. 9th. "incrustions" should be "instructions". 126. 5th. "Adeptum" should be "Adeptus". 134. 11th. "srongly" should be "strongly". 135. 1st. Insert after "casts" the following, "of the Kerubim, the holy animals of Ezekiel's Vision the head of a lion, an eagle, a" 139. 5th. "then" should be "the". 140. 6th. Before "perfect" insert "the". FOREWORD O Agni, Holy Fire! Purifying Fire! You who sleep in the wood, and ascend in Shining flames on the altar, you are the heart of sacrifice, the fearless wings of prayer, the divine Spark hidden in everything, and the glorious soul of the sun! Vedic Hymn Often the question is asked to what end does the Golden Dawn devote itself? To quote Israel Regardie, "Initiation means to begin, to start something new. It represents the beginning of a new life dedicated to an entirely different set of principles than those . held by 'homo normalis'. Initiation is the preparation for immortality. Man is only potentially immortal. Immortality is acquired when the purely human part of him becomes allied to that spiritual essence which was never created, was never born, and shall never die. It is to effect this spiritual bond with the highest, that the Golden Dawn owes its rituals and practical magical work." (The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic, 1983, Falcon Press). THE RITE OF SPRING At times I have summed up the Golden Dawn in one sentence, it is the rite of Spring — it is the sacramental transmutation of the person who has dwelt in darkness to one who now lives in light. Like Buddism and Gnostic Christianity, the Golden Dawn has no doctrine of substitutional enlightenment, atonement or redemption, but rests upon one's own work and effort to achieve enlightenment. Since actualized knowledge is a goal of the Golden Dawn, like Buddhism and Gnosticism, the Magi and Buddha and Christ are not viewed as Saviors but as Shewers of the Path. VII Foreword THE INITIATE From a psychologic point of view the initiate must give up the regressive longings which demand eternal passive bliss of the womb, for the Bliss of Enlightenment. Through this process man frees himself from his unconscious bonds, thus liberating and purifying his deeper energies to perform his True Will. Many experience this process as a death — the loss of the infantile world of childish ego and wishes that never had the will or strength to realize themselves. The unredeemed man is asleep and simply flounders in his unconscious fixations believing in the dreams of childhood, held tightly by the ergs of nature, forever at its unrelentless mercy. To be transformed, man in his lower form must find an awakening energy from some higher source. This force is the Higher Genius awakened and sustained through the rigors of preparation culminating in initiation. The initiate creates himself out of Himself, and through this he is rejuvenated. Finally the initiate pronounces -- and shouts his own name, the one he has at last chosen to symbolize his True Will. This is his re-birth. But more, for he is not the same man even in physical appearance because for some this too changes. For many the birth of the initiate can be seen as the dawn of the New Sun. It is the result of the Old Sun being devoured by the Sea, fertilized and pregnant, bringing forth the New Sun — The Golden Dawn. THE REBIRTH OF MAGIC According to Francis King in his most illuminating book The Rebirth of Magic, "It is only since the 1950s that the Western magical revival, that long drawn out process of occult evolution begun by Eliphas Levi over a century and a quarter ago, has come to the attention of the general public. Over the last 25 or so years there has been an occult boom, a 'magical explosion', of a sort not experienced since the the later years of the Roman Empire. To give a detailed account of this cultural revolution would require many thousands —perhaps many tens of thousands — of words. All that we can even VIII Foreword begin to do in one short chapter is to outline the achievements of some of those contemporary occultists who have either played a major part in the occult revival, or in one way or another, typify certain aspects of it. That the rebirth of occult magic has taken place in the way it has can be very largely attributed to the writings of one man, Dr. Francis Israel Regardie. It is not, of course, that all magicians approve of Dr. Regardie and his opinions - indeed some of them have an antipathetic attitude towards him and them. Nevertheless, there would be far, far fewer practising Western occultists working in either the Golden Dawn or 'Crowleyan' traditions if Dr. Regardie had never written any books." GREAT NAMES IN OCCULTISM Israel Regardie is considered by many including the noted occult authority Colin Wilson to be the "last living representative of the great occult tradition of the late 19th century, whose major names include Madame Blavatsky, W.B. Yeats, MacGregor Mathers, A.E. Waite, Aleister Crowley and Dion Fortune. Even in such distinguished company, Regardie stands out as a figure of central importance." Unlike many who have sought personal glory for the sustenance of their ego by involvement with the occult Regardie has not spent his time seeking personal recognition and in fact has expended vast energies to avoid the superbity which many would have liked to bestow. Until recently he has lived in relative seclusion spending his time writing and relaxing. On occasion he travels and entertains guests at his home. Since the appearance of the Golden Dawn he has received many questions pertaining to the Great Work. So much so, that he has ceased correspondence except in rare cases. Much of his recent time has been spent in the writing of The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic, which he feels will answer some of the "unanswerable questions" generated by his first efforts. The new book contains much new and needed information, of considerable importance to the aspirant. IX Foreword The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic fills the vacuum providing the student with responsible and scholastic information which will gratify the most demanding beginner or Adept. While the book is reorganized to provide needed clarity it abounds in a wealth of new material, and includes previously unpublished documents which have come Regardie's way since. The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic is the major source of western magical knowledge, the only magical gnosis of any real worth that the West has known. This enlarged system can do nothing but enthrall the dedicated student on the path to Enlightenment and Higher consciousness. But as Regardie has warned and has emphasized to me the emotional makeup of the student must be purified before the real and true benefits of the Golden Dawn System of Magic can become completely understood and made "organic" to the student's life. For several decades he has asserted that the best preparation for the magical life is a protracted course in any form of psychotherapy, though his own preferences, as mine, point in the direction mainly of Reichian work. THE DEBT TO THE GOLDEN DAWN Regardless of origins and former associations his present commitment is solely to the Golden Dawn System of Magic. While in an exalted state he once experienced an array of religious insights which encompassed him, finally bringing him to a state of exhilaration and collapse where the only thing left in his mind was the following, "not Christianity, not Buddhism, not Paganism, not anything but the Golden Dawn, the System which encompasses all." I was present when he experienced this revelation and can clearly testify to its intensity and meaning. According to King "of the dozen or so small magical fraternities existing today many owe their existence, doctrines, and rituals to the the initiates of the Golden Dawn." While this is undoubtedly true, the numbers of unaffiliated devotees of the Golden Dawn probably runs into the hundreds of thousands.