A Golden Dawn Magician's Experience With The Supplemental Teachings & Ritual Magick Recently Released By The Hermetic Order Of The Golden Dawn, AΩ
by Frater A.T.L.V.
There is much speculation going on in the Golden Dawn Community surrounding the supplemental traditional Golden Dawn teachings and Rituals recently released at the 2013 International Festival of Golden Dawn Magicians earlier this year by the HOGD/Alpha et Omega. There are also of course a lot of questions. This is of course to be expected.
In this post, I will give my personal experiences and opinions on the subject as objectively as possible. These are my own personal thoughts and experiences with the new material, and in no way represent any sort of official Order business. Of course I can't divulge any of the actual rites or teachings, as these are Oath bound.
In this post, I will give my personal experiences and opinions on the subject as objectively as possible. These are my own personal thoughts and experiences with the new material, and in no way represent any sort of official Order business. Of course I can't divulge any of the actual rites or teachings, as these are Oath bound.
The AΩ prides itself on being a Traditional Golden Dawn Order, and there are some out there who feel as though there is no place in the Traditional Golden Dawn System for new teachings, rites, or rituals. For those of you who feel this way, I can assure you that the AΩ is NOT attempting to change, alter, or graft anything onto the existing Golden Dawn System, and will continue to offer Traditional Golden Dawn training just as they have since the beginning.
The new rites and rituals are in a separate section of the AΩ, and are completely new (or rather ancient) and not at all an attempt to alter the existing system. They are however complimentary to the existing ritual system. I will get into this more later in this post. There are a few rituals which do use modified versions of existing rituals to some degree, but they are indeed very different from the published material that is widely available in the community and in most orders.
There are also many Golden Dawn orders that are not Traditionalist, and have added much to the Golden Dawn system to make it fit their goals, or to make it adhere to a belief system, such as the Thelemic Golden Dawn orders. There are also reconstructionalist orders that have changed and altered things within the system, or added things to keep their order evolving with the times.
I want to make clear the fact that this is not what is being done with the newly released material in the HOGD/AΩ.
What is being done, at least from my perspective, is the enhancement of the existing material with teachings that better explain certain fundamental symbolism and help to unlock a much greater understanding of the existing material, along with additional, more Pagan, Egyptian and Sumerian Ritual Magick systems to supplement the Qabalistic rituals that as I said are definitely not being replaced in any way, shape, or form. These ancient ritual systems compliment the existing Qabalistic Golden Dawn System in a very powerful way and feel like a natural extension for an already vast and wonderful system.
The "new" material is composed of teachings, rites, and rituals that were intended for the original Golden Dawn, but never made it in due to the schism. I truly believe that this new material has the potential to bring the Golden Dawn back to a state of unprofaned wisdom and glory that has not been seen since over a hundred years ago. It takes the magician far beyond what has been published over and over again into a beautiful magical system that feels pure and untainted by centuries of diluted current.
It brings it back to a truly secret system, which I feel is important. With the widely available material, you have people all over the world doing things incorrectly, which no doubt effects it's power, as we are all microcosms within the Macrocosm, and we all "plug in" to the Universal Consciousness when we practice magick, that is, if we are doing things correctly. The new material is being transmitted orally, which in my opinion keeps it from falling into too many hands, and in turn, diluting it's power.
As I said, the new teachings that deal with the Qabalistic system give the magician a much greater understanding of the basic rites of the Golden Dawn System, and of the symbolism that we are so familiar with, yet have not fully comprehended until now. It is the missing piece of the puzzle that will no doubt produce many "ah ha" moments for magicians that study it.
The AΩ's Egyptian College of Isis offers a system of beautiful, powerful, ancient, and effective rites to be used separately from the Qabalistic ones, although they do compliment them quite perfectly, and in certain areas, can even be used in conjunction with them.
There are also some very powerful Sumerian rites and rituals that have really profound effects, and unlike most, the effects can be quite rapidly achieved. Whereas with most Qabalistic rituals, one must do them regularly for quite some time to really get results, these rites and rituals seem to be so pure that the effects are almost immediate when they are practiced correctly.
Working with these rites and rituals on a regular basis, one quickly sees that they are definitely not new at all, but rather obviously precursors to the basic Golden Dawn rites and rituals that we are so familiar with. And after working with them regularly, I can tell you for certain that not only are they effective, but they most assuredly have a special place within the Golden Dawn magician's repertoire and will definitely help him or her with the goal of accomplishing the Great Work.
I am honored to be one of the lucky few who have received the supplemental traditional Qabalistic teachings and Rituals, the Egyptian Rites from the AΩ's new College of Isis, as well as the Sumerian/Chaldean Rituals. I have been working with the new material, rites, and rituals regularly since receiving them at the Festival this past April, and I have to say, I have had some very astonishing results!
Some things I have noticed since working regularly with all of these. My ability to create and control Light energy has greatly increased. This is fundamental to the success of any ritual, rite, or work of Magick, and has made all of my ritual work far more productive, whether for spiritual development or for practical purposes. Working one of the newly released rituals in particular has made it much easier to raise my Kundalini, and has made it more of a commonplace event.
As I said before, the supplemental teachings considerably raise the magician's understanding of the hidden meaning behind much of the symbolism and also of the basic rites of the Golden Dawn. Also, I genuinely believe that if these rituals are worked with dedication and persistence, that preliminary contact with the HGA is possible, even for Outer Order or less advanced magicians. I know this is quite the claim, but I say this based on my personal experience with the material, and can only tell you what it has done for me.
As I said before, the supplemental teachings considerably raise the magician's understanding of the hidden meaning behind much of the symbolism and also of the basic rites of the Golden Dawn. Also, I genuinely believe that if these rituals are worked with dedication and persistence, that preliminary contact with the HGA is possible, even for Outer Order or less advanced magicians. I know this is quite the claim, but I say this based on my personal experience with the material, and can only tell you what it has done for me.
There is also a ritual that effectively ties your personal Temple or Ritual Space to the egregore, and current, of the Golden Dawn System, including the Qabalistic, Egyptian and Sumerian aspects. This ritual has proven extremely effective in making all of my work much more powerful and effective, while also giving a feeling of connection to those who came before us, those who are practicing now, and to the very Light itself.
Considering that what has been released so far is only the Neophyte section of the new material, I am very excited to see what the future holds. Some of the material that has already been released is very advanced, especially for a Neophyte, but still easily comprehended with some determination and persistence.
One of the most beautiful things about these new teachings, is that they can help the advanced magician just as much as they can help the Neophyte, and in some cases, cause you to look back at things you learned earlier in your career as a Golden Dawn magician and say "oh.... ah ha!" One teaching in particular really caused one such ah ha moment in me when first learning it at the Festival, and I am still finding myself amazed at how much knowledge it contains and the fact that it continues to give me those ah ha moments to this day.
Considering that what has been released so far is only the Neophyte section of the new material, I am very excited to see what the future holds. Some of the material that has already been released is very advanced, especially for a Neophyte, but still easily comprehended with some determination and persistence.
One of the most beautiful things about these new teachings, is that they can help the advanced magician just as much as they can help the Neophyte, and in some cases, cause you to look back at things you learned earlier in your career as a Golden Dawn magician and say "oh.... ah ha!" One teaching in particular really caused one such ah ha moment in me when first learning it at the Festival, and I am still finding myself amazed at how much knowledge it contains and the fact that it continues to give me those ah ha moments to this day.
I really wish I could get into specifics and really show all the doubters out there just how amazing all of these teachings, rites, and rituals really are, and the place that they undoubtedly have in the Golden Dawn community, but hey, my word is my bond, and I take Oaths very seriously. In my opinion, it is in any Golden Dawn magician's best interest not to ignore these new teachings. By the way, they really are not new at all. More appropriately, they are far more ancient than most Golden Dawn Magick.
My most sincere thanks go out to The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn, Alpha et Omega, David Griffin, and Leslie McQuade, for hosting the 2013 International Festival of Golden Dawn Magicians, where I had the privilege of receiving this priceless material. If you are interested in the AΩ, visit www.golden-dawn.com, and of course the AΩ's official blog at hermetic-golden-dawn.blogspot.com.
My most sincere thanks go out to The Hermetic Order of The Golden Dawn, Alpha et Omega, David Griffin, and Leslie McQuade, for hosting the 2013 International Festival of Golden Dawn Magicians, where I had the privilege of receiving this priceless material. If you are interested in the AΩ, visit www.golden-dawn.com, and of course the AΩ's official blog at hermetic-golden-dawn.blogspot.com.
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