What is Golden Dawn initiation like?

[techniquea2z]

Are they linked to Freemasonry?


Anyone familiar, give me a breakdown.

 

[Sabbatius]

You can read and compare the entirety of the initiation in Israel Regardie's infamously nicknamed Black Brick also known as The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic.

That book contains the majority of the information known on the Hermetic Order of the the Golden Dawn.

 

[stalkinghyena]

For visualization purposes, this is from a contemporary temple in Paris, which I believe is attached to David Griffin's HOGD.

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Though the trappings may seem superficially masonic, I have no clue if anyone in the video is an actual Freemason. I know in the original short-lived GD of the 19th century a number of members were Masons, and also members of the Theosophical Society, and also the Societas Rosicrucian in Anglia, and probably other various esoteric clubs. I also believe there were links to the prior Hermetic Brotherhood of Luxor. The original GD split into a variety of schismatic groups with differing agendas, most of which decayed into oblivion.

From what I recall, the modern HOGD and the very different and controversial Esoteric Order of the GD are revivalists - but how that came about slips my mind. I think I came across a Thelemic GD, not tied to the OTO - or maybe it was, can't remember.

 

[MagnusRivularius]

From what I have seen pretty much every initiation from any order from 1700s to the 1950s is going to follow the basic Freemason template.
1) Your sit and wait in an antechamber until someone enters and blindfolds you
2) You are escorted through a door and conducted around the lodge where people say things to you
3) The lodge leader has you take an oath not to reveal the secrets of the order
4) The blind fold is removed and you are shown something
5) Symbols and the like are shown to you and your shown how to wear any special regalia involved.
6) The at the end you will probably get a lecture that repeats everything that was done during the initiation.
7) Then at the end there is some sort of call to action of what it is that is expected of you now your a member.

That is the basic template. It is strange at first, but there is probably no initiation to any order that would not be immediately recognizable to a Freemason.

 

[Lurker]

This video is by Nick Farrell, who is a longtime member of the GD and an occult author.

 

[AbammonTheGreat]

Are they linked to Freemasonry?


Anyone familiar, give me a breakdown.

The founding members Wescott, Mathers, and Woodman met in a masonic lodge and formed the order. Westcott initially approached Mathers and Woodman with a forged "charter" from a "Fraulein Shprengle" to start a Rosicrucian order. This screw up is an absolutely hilarious story that lead to their implosion but they copy pasted alot of material from the Masons into the order. They were trying to form a faux-Rosicrucian order using the Masonic framework but Mathers ended up taking over as the creative force and syncretizing a bunch of magical material from Francis Barrett, Eliphas Levi, and John Dee into the system.

Its a pretty unique system of magic, innovative and creative but you can see the masonic fingerprints all over it. Its its own thing though, the syncretism in it can be shaky at times and have mistakes but if you take it as a guide and work through it faithfully you will get a real good foundation in magic that will help you branch out and forge your own path. I dont recommend adopting it as an end all be all truth though.

 

[MagnusRivularius]

The founding members Wescott, Mathers, and Woodman

That is pretty odd that one of them was named Woodman. Not too long after the Golden Dawn began the 'Modern Woodmen of the World' would become one largest 19th century fraternities and perpetuate the 'Goat Riding' myth that still exists today, along with the DeMoulin fraternal paraphanalia company. The 'Woodmen' today is still around but is a multi-billion dollar life insurance company. What a hilarious coincidence.

 

[MorganBlack]

Pardon my rambling here. Huge topic.

First let me say, the material is dated, and needs pruning, but also great stuff!

Frankly I feel we should all stay in what the G.D. calls the "lower grades" for a pretty long time, until our personal hash gets settled. More on why below.

In the 1980s the G.D. derived material was pretty ubiquitous. Every book was using their approach, the geometric symbols and names, along with the obligatory chakras. A lot of us Gen-X magician got started on Donald Michael Kraig's 'Modern Magick', which takes many cues from Regardie to adapt the lodge material for personal use.

In my opinion, the G.D. "Sphere of Sensation" is a sort of Chaos Magic / New Thought filter. It can lead to some awkward syntheses if used with other systems , and is "manfesting" are very particular astral-emotional "inner temple" as a place to work through aspects of your Nephesh.

While I still think the G.D. system along with the Crowley - Bennet A.A. curriculum are great place for newcomers who need a structured training program, just know you are then sort of like deep sea diving in the spirit world , but wrapped up in a very Masonic diving bell. Some things you see and feel are only on the glass of your helmet.

For those here whose objective is to get to the grims, they needs lot of pruning and re-contextualization to sync up with the grimoric tradition. We had some weird mixes in the late 1990's. Aaron Leitch is a G.D officer and grimoire magical an balances the two quite well, it seems to me, but I think he keeps them separate.

There may be others making training courses by now, but Rob Rider Hill's Black Chap Book, while more PGM and Greco-Egytian flavored , with Helios and Hecate as your Resident Titans, took inspiration from the G.D. He's a fellow G.V. guy, and while there are no goetic instructions in the book, but his book shows how the materal can be adapted while loosening some of the lodge magic framework.

Why I think this very, even overly structured stuff still matters.

Stephen Skinner in a video said Mathers was very well versed in the grimoires, but kept that material mostly to the side. I also agree with him that when these lodge-Magic Masonic guys write about "Magic" what they are writing about is "Mysticism". While he is technically accurate, the inner training of a magician is part of the process.

Unless you are working with spirits (thought-beings) who have been brought down, the spirits and forces come through our personal minds first. Cleaning up you inner world is a very good idea. So unless one wants to go through, say, the Zen route, or the Catholic Mysticism route, the G.D. is a very good system for tackling those thorny personal emotional issues to develop a degree of inner balance first, before calling in demons, angels, and other intelligences.

Also potentially destabalizing are the huge Achetypal mythic god-patterns that can overwhelm your everyday personality and lead to ego inflation. The lower grades help you stay humble and not get "the magic" wrapped up with your personal ego-projection, fantasies, and wish fulfillment.