The Sun Rises

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is the best known and most influential modern magical order, and though it lasted less than a dozen years, its legacy has played a major role in the magical revival of the twentieth century. The Order was founded in 1888 by Dr. William Wynn Westcott, a London coroner, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers. It survived in its original form until 1903. Both Westcott and Mathers had a background in secret and magical orders, being Freemasons and members of the Rosicrucian order Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA), among others.

The story goes that Westcott was sent parts of a strange, encrypted document by a Reverend Woodford, a Mason and Hermeticist, who claimed to have found it in a London bookstall. Once Westcott had deciphered the manuscript, it turned out to be an outline for the rituals and teachings of a magical order, with instructions to contact Sapiens Dominabitur Astris, in care of Anna Sprengel in Hanover. Westcott did this and was told that he could found "an elementary branch of the Rosicrucian Order in England." Mathers helped to craft workable rituals from outlines in the document, and the Golden Dawn was born.

On 1st March, 1888, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was established with the opening of the Isis-Urania Temple at 17 Fitzroy Street, London. Its three chiefs were Westcott, Mathers and Dr. William Robert Woodman, the Supreme Magus of the SRIA. Over the next eight years over 300 initiates joined the Order.

The program of lodge work and individual magical training created for the Golden Dawn made the important step forward of linking the secret, group work of the Order to the ritual work performed by initiates as part of their own training and practice. The teachings of the Golden Dawn were diverse, and included Ceremonial Magic, Kabbalah, inner alchemy, Tarot, Enochian Magic, astrology, divination and Egyptian Magic - all with the aim of performing the Great Work of self-realization. The Order was arranged in a hierarchy of eleven degrees through which initiates could progress: the neophyte degree followed by ten further degrees corresponding to the sefirot on the Kabbalistic Tree of Life.

Prominent members of the Golden Dawn included Dr. Arthur Edward Waite, Aleister Crowley and the poet William Butler Yeats. The clash of egos inherent in this talented potpourri pulled the Golden Dawn apart from the inside. Mathers wanted to be the sole chief of the Order, and claimed that he was in contact with Secret Chiefs who had proclaimed him the "Visible Head of the Order." In 1891 he set up his own lodge in Paris, and when Woodman died this same year, his position in the Order was not reallocated. The Woodford document and subsequent letters from Anna Sprengel, used by Westcott to give the Golden Dawn some legitimizing lineage, were almost certainly forgeries, and accusations along these lines saw Westcott resign in 1897. In his resignation letter, Westcott cited the stigma still attached to the magical arts: "having received an intimation that it had somehow become known to state officers that I was a prominent official of a society in which I was foolishly posturing as one possessed of magical powers and that if this became more public it would not do for a Coroner of the Crown to be made shame of in such a mad way." Florence Farr took his place, but the demise of the Order was accelerated with the initiation of Aleister Crowley in 1898. After his expulsion in 1900, Crowley published some of the Order's secret documents in his magazine, The Equinox.

The Sun Sets

The disintegration of the Golden Dawn now began in earnest, resulting in a raft of new magical orders as former members founded orders of their own to bolster their egos or keep the tradition alive. By 1903, the year that Waite formed his own mystically-inclined version of the Order, the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn is considered to have faded away. New orders that grew, directly or indirectly, from the extinguishing of the Golden Dawn include:

Alpha et Omega Mather's version of the Golden Dawn.
Stella Matutina
("Morning Star") Yeats and Dr. Robert Felkin's rival Order, more prosaically known as the "Order of the Companions of the Rising Light in the Morning."
Holy Order of the Golden Dawn Waite's group: more mystically than magically inclined. The order declined after Waite's departure in 1915.
Astrum Argenteum
("Silver Star") Crowley's order.
Ordo Templi Orientis
("Order of the Templars of the Orient") The Order Crowley eventually joined, reorganized and led until his death.
Fraternity of the Inner Light
(now Society of the Inner Light) Founded by Dion Fortune.
Dion Fortune joined the Stella Matutina in 1919, and Israel Regardie joined in 1934. Regardie became disillusioned with the pettiness and incompetence of the surviving "adepts" and decided to publish his collection of secret papers and rituals in the hope of allowing the knowledge to survive. The Golden Dawn was published in four volumes between 1937 and 1940, and this was eventually the catalyst for the flowering of new orders and solitary magicians working within and expanding upon the rich Golden Dawn tradition.

http://www.byzant.com/Mystical/Scriptorium/GoldenDawn.aspx

A cult in my opinion.

Aleister Crowley -- creepy dark magician who wrote about sacrificing young boys. Probably even did it. ewww

Too much dark magic involved.

From what I've read about them they were indeed highly egotistical, extremely secretive, and had much internal conflict in their organizations.

Obviously Waite became famous for his version of the Tarot cards illustrated by the paintings of Pamela Colman Smith. I personally don't care for their illustrations, but those images have indeed become the popular standard for Tarot.

It seems to be the fate of almost any spiritual practice to become tainted by various people who abuse it.

I dropped out of the mystery school I joined because of its connections to the Crown and the Golden dawn. Its a secret society and I got bad vibes from them right off the bat.

They like to look so pure but the underlying feeling can only be described by these words:

DARK AND EVIL.

10-4 on the bad vibes

I studied Crowley for a bit by way of kabala and the tree of life and tarot

mostly I couldn't help thinking that they were full of **s.h.i.t.** and were making stuff up



EDIT: but I do prefer Waite's cards to any others I've found

I don't like Crowleys cards at all. Very ugly.

I designed my own deck:



INFINITE VISIONS TAROT

Glad to see you around Robin!

heyyyyyy!

had to come to the liberry to get on line. (it's air conditioned too)

nice to see ya!

I was starting to think everyone was gone

Where's that Crucible?

When I started learning Tarot I started with Waite's cards simply because they are considered to be the "Standard Tarot Deck" by a lot of authors of books on Tarot. I don't particularly care for the way they did the suite of Swords in particular.

The rest of the deck isn't bad.

My favorite decks to date are Mystic Faerie Tarot, and the Llewellyn deck. Of course Jeanniebean's deck is super nice in terms of graphics. But I've been using the Mystic Faerie tarot and Llewellyn tarot for so long that I'm real comfortable with their imagery. They call to me on a personal level and that's what's important.

What is that?

His favorite majical container...

what a Beast he was...

James, the Rider Waite deck I was interested in at one time. The Hierophant card especially drew my interest. I thought it was fascinating how during the Spanish Inquisition how the Tarot was used in place of religious books. Our present day Hoyle cards came from Tarot. And, of course, The Tarot of the Holy Grail.

“The Grail, the Templars, the secrets of medieval mysticism are carved in the Tarot like a map that leads to the most sacred of treasures.”

Created by Lorenzo Tesio and illustrated by Stefano Palumbo, the Tarot of the Holy Grail is a masculine deck of warriors, monks and priests, pictured in their quest for “The Holy Land, Jerusalem, the Holy Sepulcher and salvation.”

The booklet explains that during the Crusades, three orders of warrior-monks were formed to defend pilgrims and sacred places – the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaler, and the Teutonic Knights. Legendarily, they also held Christian relics, the most famous of which was reputed to be the Grail of ‘Holy Chalice of the Last Supper’, and a symbol of divine grace. This forms the basis of the concept for the deck, and the images are of the battles and travails of the knights on their physical journey.

The major arcana cards are associated with historical characters or events in some cases – The magician is Hughes de Payens, the Empress is Queen Sibyl of Jerusalem, the Devil if Baphomet, the Tower is the Fall of Jerusalem – and have a war-like or military feel. The Magician stands between one whole and one broken column, his tools placed on a red-cloth covered stone table. A rocky cliff and tall castle towers in the distance. The Fool is resolute and carrying a large burden, without a dog in evidence. The High Priestess, normally a symbol of feminine power, is instead an image of two knights kneeling at a throne and is more like what you’d expect for the Hierophant. (The Hierophant actually shows a scene of a warrior being knighted.) Even the Lovers card shows two combative looking men.

The minor suits are Chalices, Pentacles, Wands and Swords, and according to the booklet, have an esoteric link with the Tree of Life of the Cabala (and its spheres), the Order of the Templars, Pagan Esotericism, and the Combatant Orders respectively. This is more of a conceptual link shown by the card’s title in the booklet, rather than overtly in the Rider-Waite based minor scenes. For example:

Ace of Pentacles – The Templar Cross – The perfect gain, acquisition, ecstasy and success, material ties, control of the elements at play.

4 of Chalices – Hessed Love – Noble sentiments, new beginning, introspection. Partial gratification, economic stability.

The faces of the cards have cream borders with the numerals printed in red and titles in black. The colours are well-matched with the scenes (illustrated in muted and natural colours) and don’t detract or clash. The backs of the cards have a tiled appearance with diagonal squares in white and olive-green featuring a stylised knight on horseback.

The booklet is Lo Scarabeo’s usual small booklet in English, Italian, Spanish, French and German. It has reasonable meanings for the small size allotted – a paragraph of keywords and short phrases. The original spread of ten cards is called “The search for the Grail, each the goal by interpreting the clues.”

Almost a complete opposite to feminine decks like the Oracle of the Grail Code, the Tarot of the Holy Grail is a masculine - almost blokey - tarot deck, and a different depiction of the Grail quest. I found it difficult to connect with, but others may find the activity-filled scenes to be an adequate spring-board for interpretation.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/holy-grail/review.shtml

All of this stuff is fascinating to me.

The review of the Tarot of the Holy Grail is indeed interesting. Although that particular deck would not be meaningful for me in a psychic way. It's far too militaristic as was the whole of Christianity back in those days.

Fortunately there are thousands of tarot decks to choose from today so it's fairly easy to find one that works well for almost anyone who is interested in this type of thing.

The other thing I find really fascinating is the Egyptian tree of sphiroth, which the Hebrews converted into their Kabbalah. Then Christians converted that into their Cabala. Using a "C" to honor their Christ. The Celtics also used a form of the Qabalah, and used a "Q" to differentiate their form from others as well. I'm not sure what the original Egyptians actually called it. They may have even gotten their ideas from the far east. There are many theories.

It's interesting how the Qabalah and the Tarot work quite well together. Although that may not be an accident. It could very well be that whoever developed the Tarot was guided by their use of the Qabalah.

I have created my own form of the Qabalah with the Tarot embedded in with it in a way that words well for me. I find much value in these hermetic systems even in terms of pure secular psychic power. They serve well as psychic organizers for training the mind in various states of consciousness. Plus they have great romantic value for the poetic soul.

So I find these mystical and magical systems to be interesting, enjoyable, and pragmatically productive. I'm really glad that humans before us have created these psychic tools and road maps, as well as the art and lore that accompanies them.

They serve well as psychic organizers for training the mind in various states of consciousness. Plus they have great romantic value for the poetic soul.

I have some really weird poetry that probably has no significance but just to me. The grief I went through I was writing through a myriad of emotions. Some of it I look back and lets just say some of the insanity really shows. It is almost hilariously comical to me now but then it was real and painful.


I Sent My Anger To Hell

I went and sent my anger to hell.
But it didn't like it very well.
It just bitched and complained.
Couldn't get it out of my brain.

No rest it gave me night or day.
It just had to have its own way.
Told me I would miss being mad.
Told me it would make me sad.

My anger had it in for me.
My anger wouldn't let me be.
My anger would throw a fit.
There was no help for it.

My anger couldn't be happy in hell.
Screw my anger; I thought, oh well.
Tortured discontented it became.
It began to call out my name.

It seems hell wasn't just far enough.
Hell must be made of real strong stuff.
Then one day I became so very bored.
Anger said that it couldn't be ignored.

I forgave my anger and it took me back.
My anger doesn't have that much tack.
But it is my anger and part of me.
If you love something then set it free.

That's a really great poem Roy

I can tell it came straight from the heart, or should I say gall bladder?

What organ does anger hang out in anyway?

Good question. Beats me.

I think anger eats at you from the pit of the stomach.

Something I have been curious about since there are different versions of Tarot and read up on how some of the history of Tarot has been debunked is the spiritual energy that some have said that has emanated from a pack of cards. In layman's terms it is known by some as a 'whammy'. Some have said that the cards actually get hot to their touch. What made me think of this is I think the cards can themselves develop a 'life' of their own so to speak. Maybe not something 'AI' (artificial intelligence) but more like the 'mistletoe effect' (a symbiotic relationship with the dealer or user). I realize that I have read a lot of sci fi before but it can make one wonder. Also, could a reading be second guessed or like a second opinion not only with a second reading but a second deck. I base this on Vegas where a player can ask for a second deck to be dealt. Some may look at this as something superstitious as the cutting of the deck is said to have the effect of 'cutting your luck' where others don't believe this. What if two different decks gave you two different readings. How can science account for the aberrational such as these? Some may think that each deck has a spiritual energy bound to it.

The deck itself has no more energy or meaning than what we (the user) injects into the reading. I could be wrong, as people who can touch an object and get a vision from it have been known to exist.

I don't know if this energy or power belongs exclusively to the reader or if any part of it is associated with the object.

Different decks give different readings because of the different symbols and how they are interpreted. I don't have any experience in that area concerning different decks of the same design.

The power is with the reader and how they relate to the pictures or symbols on the cards.