Contents
This HTML version (c) 2001, Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Used by Permission.
All rights reserved.
The Order of the G.D. in the Outer is a Hermetic
Society whose members are taught the principles of Occult Science and the Magic
of Hermes. During the early part of the second half of the 19th Century, several
adepti and chiefs of this order in France and England died, and their deaths
caused a temporarily dormant condition of Temple work. Prominent among these
were Eliphas Levi, Ragon, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, author of the Masonic Encyclopedia
and Frederick Hockley, possessed of crystal vision whose M.S.S. we highly esteemed.
These and other adepti received their knowledge and power from predecessors
of greater imminence and have handed down to us this doctrine and system of
Theosophy and Hermetic Science of the Higher Alchemy from a series of practical
investigations whose origin is traced to the Fratres Rosae Crucis of Germany,
which association was founded by Christian Rosenkreuz about 1398.
He and the theologian, Valentine Andrea,
have left us, in the works published about 1614, an account of the exoteric
arrangements of the Rosicrucian Society. It seems likely it was Andrea who published
in 1614 the Fama Fraternitatis, or Theory of the Society, which must have been
derived from the old records of the pupils of Christian Rosenkrawz. But even
this arrival of mysticism was a new development of the older wisdom of the Qabalistic
Rabbis and of that very ancient secret knowledge of the magic of the Egyptians
into which Moses had been initiated. Through the Qabalah, indeed, Europe became
possessed of the ancient Wisdom more than from any one other source, for the
Hebrews were taught at one time by the Egyptians and later by the Chaldees of
Babylon.
It is a curious fact that the classic
nations, the Greeks and Romans, have handed down to us but slight glimpses of
the Ancient Magic, and this is more notable because Greece succeeded to the
mastership of Egypt, and Rome to the Empire of both the Greeks and Jews. Greece
did indeed succeed to a share in the mysteries of the Egyptians for the Eleusinian
Mysteries were copies of the ancient ceremonies of Isis, Osiris and Serapis;
but they lacked true magic. And further, the classic writings contain but faint
glimpses of even the Eleusinian Mysteries, and these disclose the fact that
the pupils were partly ignorant of the true mysteries, a notable example of
which is seen in the use of the words Konx Om Pax, of which they knew not the
meaning, the words being the Greek imitation or translation of really ancient
Egyptian words, whose meanings has been kept secret for centuries. Hence the
0=0 Grade is found to possess Egyptian characteristics and symbolism and the
Higher Grades will reveal the source of much of the culture and illustrate the
language of Eliphas Levi, through whose adeptship the study of occultism has
been popularized.
The First Order is a group of four grades
of which Neophytes are admissible when approved by the G.H. Chiefs after showing
themselves possessed of sufficient aptitude and knowledge. Beyond the above,
there are three grades of Adeptship forming the Second Order. These have the
power of selecting Candidates, initiating students into the lower grades and
their Chiefs have, in addition, the power of issuing warrants of Temples such
as that of Isis Urania. But the highest of all in this ancient scheme are the
Great Rulers of the whole system who severally sustain and govern the Third
Order, which includes three Magic Titles of Honor and Supremacy. These represent
the Supernal Triad of the Sephiroth and are shrouded and unapproachable to the
profane and to all others but the Chiefs of the Adepts. In case of a vacancy
in this Order, the Chief most learned Adept obtains by decree the well-earned
award.
The scheme of the G.D. then is formed
upon the type of the Decad of the Sephiroth, the ten Emanations of Deity as
figured in the Qabalah whose professors were illuminated by the higher magic
of the ancient world. The grades of the First Order will be found to be Hebrew
in design and tendency; and inasmuch as the influx of time brought on the revelation
of the Christos, the Tiphareth, the Beauty of Microprosopos, Christian design
is reflected in the higher degrees.
The Neophyte Grade and the 1st, 2nd,
3rd and 4th Grades, which this present Isis Urania Temple is authorized to confer
after due examination and approval, posses rituals and secrets which have been
received from the G.H. Chief adepts and these are placed in our hands to use
in the tuition of pupils in the ancient methods of this Order. This Temple (Isis
Urania) was consecrated as a successor to Hermanubis No. 2 which had ceased
to exist owing to the death of all its Chiefs.
The Temple No. 1 of Licht, Liebe, Libra
is a group of Continental mystics who have not been in the habit of performing
ceremonies in open lodge, but have conferred the grades chiefly in privacy and
in the presence of two or three members, so there is no accurate record of name
and rank of all these members. Soon after the formation of Temple No. 3, permission
was granted for the consecration of Osiris Temple No. 4 at Weston-Super-Mare
under rule of V.H. Frater "Crux dat Salubrem" and the West of England
has been assigned to him as a province. Almost at the same time, the Horus Temple
No. 5 under the rule of V.H. Fratre "Vote Vita Mea" was also consecrated
at Bredford in Yorkshire. These three Temples have members also in the United
States, Hindustan, Palestine, Denmark, etc.
The name of the Order in various languages
is:
In Hebrew: Morning Light Shining Society
(Chabrath (or Chaorah) Zoreh Aour Bakker) which means The Society of the Shining
Light of Dawn.
In Latin: Aurora. In German: Die Goldene
Demmerung. In French: L'Aube d' Or.
Reference may now be made to the Society
which was reconstructed by Robert Wentworth Little, student of the mysteries.
This Society, which has branches in England, Scotland and the United States,
is allied with the G.D. It perpetuated one form of Rosicrucian initiation which
was conferred 100 years ago in England and which was mentioned by Godfrey Higgins
in his work The Anacalypsis, or an Attempt to Withdraw the Veil of the Saitic
Isis. Fratre Little was a student of the school of Levi and also an eminent
Freemason, and the Rosicrucian Society as revised by him was made by intention
and permission essentially masonic, thus severing all connection with those
Adepts who have not been Craftsmen, as Basil Valentine, Artephus, Nicolas Flamel,
Jacob Behmen and Robert Fludd. The Rosicrucian Society in the same manner fails
to recognize any worth for occult research in women. This is also an innovation
or the scheme of the Ancient Mysteries in many of which, notably those of Isis
priestesses and virgin prophetesses, were prominent ministers.
Note specifically, that there are several
instances in the ancient M.S. of our Order, which are written in cypher, where
reference is made to the fratres and sorores, the words "her or him"
occur showing that in olden time, as at the present day, women rose to high
rank and attainment in the secret knowledge of the Order. Mention may be suitably
made to Pernelle, the wife and fellow-worker of Nicolas Flamel, of Martine Berthereau,
companion of Baron Jean de Chatelet who died about 1645 and of the widow lady
afterwards symbolized by him as Sophia (Heavenly Wisdom), fellow student and
inspirer of John Georg Gichtel who died about 1700. The occultists of today
cannot need to be reminded of the great Hermetists and Theosophists of recent
times: of D. Anna Kingsford, who was indeed illuminated by the Sun of Light;
of Madame Blavatsky, leader of the T.S. No occult student, however wide apart
his own favored path of wisdom, could fail to recognize in her a master mind
in a woman's frame.
I cannot fail to express the lament
which followed the passing of D. William Robert Woodman, for many years known
as the supreme Magus of the Society Ros. in Anglia which is exoteric in its
outer grades but whose concerns are regulated by an inner circle of adepti who
still hold the secrets of the R.:. C.:. and its masonic society.
The eastern school of Theosophy and
Occultism and our own Hermetic Society of the G.D. are fraternities of students
whose predecessors must have come from the same stock of magi as the scientific
priests of a remote antiquity. The two Societies, different in modes of teaching
and in language, are allied by mutual understanding and respect, and their aim
is similar. Be assured that the Order of the G.D. can show the way to much secret
knowledge and spiritual progress and lead true and patient students who can
Will, Dare, Learn and Be Silent to the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom, and Perfect
Happiness.
Used by Permission.
All rights reserved.
The Order of the G.D. in the Outer is a Hermetic
Society whose members are taught the principles of Occult Science and the Magic
of Hermes. During the early part of the second half of the 19th Century, several
adepti and chiefs of this order in France and England died, and their deaths
caused a temporarily dormant condition of Temple work. Prominent among these
were Eliphas Levi, Ragon, Kenneth R. H. Mackenzie, author of the Masonic Encyclopedia
and Frederick Hockley, possessed of crystal vision whose M.S.S. we highly esteemed.
These and other adepti received their knowledge and power from predecessors
of greater imminence and have handed down to us this doctrine and system of
Theosophy and Hermetic Science of the Higher Alchemy from a series of practical
investigations whose origin is traced to the Fratres Rosae Crucis of Germany,
which association was founded by Christian Rosenkreuz about 1398.
He and the theologian, Valentine Andrea,
have left us, in the works published about 1614, an account of the exoteric
arrangements of the Rosicrucian Society. It seems likely it was Andrea who published
in 1614 the Fama Fraternitatis, or Theory of the Society, which must have been
derived from the old records of the pupils of Christian Rosenkrawz. But even
this arrival of mysticism was a new development of the older wisdom of the Qabalistic
Rabbis and of that very ancient secret knowledge of the magic of the Egyptians
into which Moses had been initiated. Through the Qabalah, indeed, Europe became
possessed of the ancient Wisdom more than from any one other source, for the
Hebrews were taught at one time by the Egyptians and later by the Chaldees of
Babylon.
It is a curious fact that the classic
nations, the Greeks and Romans, have handed down to us but slight glimpses of
the Ancient Magic, and this is more notable because Greece succeeded to the
mastership of Egypt, and Rome to the Empire of both the Greeks and Jews. Greece
did indeed succeed to a share in the mysteries of the Egyptians for the Eleusinian
Mysteries were copies of the ancient ceremonies of Isis, Osiris and Serapis;
but they lacked true magic. And further, the classic writings contain but faint
glimpses of even the Eleusinian Mysteries, and these disclose the fact that
the pupils were partly ignorant of the true mysteries, a notable example of
which is seen in the use of the words Konx Om Pax, of which they knew not the
meaning, the words being the Greek imitation or translation of really ancient
Egyptian words, whose meanings has been kept secret for centuries. Hence the
0=0 Grade is found to possess Egyptian characteristics and symbolism and the
Higher Grades will reveal the source of much of the culture and illustrate the
language of Eliphas Levi, through whose adeptship the study of occultism has
been popularized.
The First Order is a group of four grades
of which Neophytes are admissible when approved by the G.H. Chiefs after showing
themselves possessed of sufficient aptitude and knowledge. Beyond the above,
there are three grades of Adeptship forming the Second Order. These have the
power of selecting Candidates, initiating students into the lower grades and
their Chiefs have, in addition, the power of issuing warrants of Temples such
as that of Isis Urania. But the highest of all in this ancient scheme are the
Great Rulers of the whole system who severally sustain and govern the Third
Order, which includes three Magic Titles of Honor and Supremacy. These represent
the Supernal Triad of the Sephiroth and are shrouded and unapproachable to the
profane and to all others but the Chiefs of the Adepts. In case of a vacancy
in this Order, the Chief most learned Adept obtains by decree the well-earned
award.
The scheme of the G.D. then is formed
upon the type of the Decad of the Sephiroth, the ten Emanations of Deity as
figured in the Qabalah whose professors were illuminated by the higher magic
of the ancient world. The grades of the First Order will be found to be Hebrew
in design and tendency; and inasmuch as the influx of time brought on the revelation
of the Christos, the Tiphareth, the Beauty of Microprosopos, Christian design
is reflected in the higher degrees.
The Neophyte Grade and the 1st, 2nd,
3rd and 4th Grades, which this present Isis Urania Temple is authorized to confer
after due examination and approval, posses rituals and secrets which have been
received from the G.H. Chief adepts and these are placed in our hands to use
in the tuition of pupils in the ancient methods of this Order. This Temple (Isis
Urania) was consecrated as a successor to Hermanubis No. 2 which had ceased
to exist owing to the death of all its Chiefs.
The Temple No. 1 of Licht, Liebe, Libra
is a group of Continental mystics who have not been in the habit of performing
ceremonies in open lodge, but have conferred the grades chiefly in privacy and
in the presence of two or three members, so there is no accurate record of name
and rank of all these members. Soon after the formation of Temple No. 3, permission
was granted for the consecration of Osiris Temple No. 4 at Weston-Super-Mare
under rule of V.H. Frater "Crux dat Salubrem" and the West of England
has been assigned to him as a province. Almost at the same time, the Horus Temple
No. 5 under the rule of V.H. Fratre "Vote Vita Mea" was also consecrated
at Bredford in Yorkshire. These three Temples have members also in the United
States, Hindustan, Palestine, Denmark, etc.
The name of the Order in various languages
is:
In Hebrew: Morning Light Shining Society
(Chabrath (or Chaorah) Zoreh Aour Bakker) which means The Society of the Shining
Light of Dawn.
In Latin: Aurora. In German: Die Goldene
Demmerung. In French: L'Aube d' Or.
Reference may now be made to the Society
which was reconstructed by Robert Wentworth Little, student of the mysteries.
This Society, which has branches in England, Scotland and the United States,
is allied with the G.D. It perpetuated one form of Rosicrucian initiation which
was conferred 100 years ago in England and which was mentioned by Godfrey Higgins
in his work The Anacalypsis, or an Attempt to Withdraw the Veil of the Saitic
Isis. Fratre Little was a student of the school of Levi and also an eminent
Freemason, and the Rosicrucian Society as revised by him was made by intention
and permission essentially masonic, thus severing all connection with those
Adepts who have not been Craftsmen, as Basil Valentine, Artephus, Nicolas Flamel,
Jacob Behmen and Robert Fludd. The Rosicrucian Society in the same manner fails
to recognize any worth for occult research in women. This is also an innovation
or the scheme of the Ancient Mysteries in many of which, notably those of Isis
priestesses and virgin prophetesses, were prominent ministers.
Note specifically, that there are several
instances in the ancient M.S. of our Order, which are written in cypher, where
reference is made to the fratres and sorores, the words "her or him"
occur showing that in olden time, as at the present day, women rose to high
rank and attainment in the secret knowledge of the Order. Mention may be suitably
made to Pernelle, the wife and fellow-worker of Nicolas Flamel, of Martine Berthereau,
companion of Baron Jean de Chatelet who died about 1645 and of the widow lady
afterwards symbolized by him as Sophia (Heavenly Wisdom), fellow student and
inspirer of John Georg Gichtel who died about 1700. The occultists of today
cannot need to be reminded of the great Hermetists and Theosophists of recent
times: of D. Anna Kingsford, who was indeed illuminated by the Sun of Light;
of Madame Blavatsky, leader of the T.S. No occult student, however wide apart
his own favored path of wisdom, could fail to recognize in her a master mind
in a woman's frame.
I cannot fail to express the lament
which followed the passing of D. William Robert Woodman, for many years known
as the supreme Magus of the Society Ros. in Anglia which is exoteric in its
outer grades but whose concerns are regulated by an inner circle of adepti who
still hold the secrets of the R.:. C.:. and its masonic society.
The eastern school of Theosophy and
Occultism and our own Hermetic Society of the G.D. are fraternities of students
whose predecessors must have come from the same stock of magi as the scientific
priests of a remote antiquity. The two Societies, different in modes of teaching
and in language, are allied by mutual understanding and respect, and their aim
is similar. Be assured that the Order of the G.D. can show the way to much secret
knowledge and spiritual progress and lead true and patient students who can
Will, Dare, Learn and Be Silent to the Summum Bonum, True Wisdom, and Perfect
Happiness.
