Mishkan ha-Echad

Announcing Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls

2013-05-31T21:57:00.001+01:00

31 May 2013—Dublin, Ireland—KERUBIM PRESS has announced the imminent release of its latest esoteric title, Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls by the Golden Dawn Community (ISBN 978-1-908705-07-5), due to launch on 14 June 2013.

The book weighs in at 440 pages, packed not only with all 36 Flying Rolls (including rare material), but with additional magical teachings, historical insights, and commentaries from members of a variety of modern Golden Dawn orders, including well-known authors like Chic and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, Aaron Leitch, Nick Farrell and Peregrin Wildoak.

Anyone working with the Golden Dawn system of magic, and, indeed, anyone working in the Western Mystery Tradition as a whole, will find this an indispensible addition to their bookshelves.

Check out the back cover description:

This book contains the 36 pivotal papers given to Adepts in the original Golden Dawn order, providing key insights and instructions into the theory and practice of magic, from theurgy, imagination and symbolism to clairvoyance, divination and telesmatic images. For the first time these texts are brought together in a single printed volume, along with some rare administrative versions that were all but ignored by modern eyes.

In addition, extensive and insightful commentaries from modern Golden Dawn magicians from a variety of orders are here provided, adding to the corpus of teaching provided in the Flying Rolls themselves.

The contributors to this book include:

Frater A.M., Frater AR, Deanna Bonds, Christopher Bradford, Chic Cicero, Sandra Tabatha Cicero, Ian Cowburn, Morgan Drake Eckstein, Nick Farrell, Paola Farrell, Lauren Gardner, Jayne Gibson, Frater Goya, VH Frater IOV, Aaron Leitch, Liza Llewellyn, Joseph Max, Frater Philomancer, VH Soror QQDAM, Samuel Scarborough, Eric V. Sisco, Rachael Walker, Sam Webster, Harry Wendrich, Peregrin Wildoak, Frater Yechidah, Frater YShY

The book will retail for $29.99, £19.99, €24.99, or AU$29.99. It will be available through all major online bookstores, including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and The Book Depository. Bookstores are welcome to contact Kerubim Press to inquire about wholesale options.

The Riddle of the Tattvas

2013-05-13T17:00:00.000+01:00

The Tattvas have long appeared to be the most unorthodox aspect of the Golden Dawn system, clashing quite obviously (at least on the surface) with the rest of the Order's Western-leaning teachings. The shapes and colours don't seem to fit, and it seems readily apparent to many that there are other, perhaps better, alternatives.

And here is where we need to be careful, because it is this kind of reasoning that can hold us back, can hinder us from actually learning something new. Not all is clean-cut on the esoteric path, and we are frequently forced to reconcile opposing ideas and balance seemingly contradictory thoughts.

First, let us explore the tattvas from a historical perspective. Many Golden Dawn members were also members of the early school of Theosophy when it was more Western focused. They were also exposed to Eastern teachings, some of which were mentioned in passing in various Golden Dawn documents, often as ways to help better explain Western material.

But why did the Golden Dawn use the tattvas and not other Eastern material? If it was simply an issue of them being new and intriguing, it begs the question why so many other new and intriguing ideas from across the globe were not embraced. Surely their introduction was less because of their general appeal and more because they actually fit into the system.

But how do they fit? Prithivi is a yellow square and relates to Earth. The square aspect matches Western associations, thanks to the Platonic solid of the cube, but the colour yellow would suggest, in the Golden Dawn, the element of Air. Likewise, the blue circle of Vayu would suggest Water, but is actually Air, and the black egg would suggest Earth, but is actually Spirit. Only the red triangle of Tejas appears to match other Golden Dawn associations, while the silver crescent of Apas does bring to mind the lunar connection of Water.

So then we have incongruence, and here is part of the beauty of this system within the carefully ordered material of the Golden Dawn. When these are skryed, the magician is instantly faced with, in most cases, preconceptions based on the colour and shape of the objects, which could easily provide a false vision. Yet because their real associations are often starkly different, it is generally easier to notice these illusions. For example, if the magician were to skry Prithivi and be greeted with Air-related imagery, then he or she immediately knows that the vision is not reliable. So, in a sense, the Tattvas provide an additional testing mechanism by the pure fact that they do not so easily match the correspondences Golden Dawn magicians have previously learned.

However, there is more to these than that. My personal experience suggests the Tattvas are tamer in nature than many other symbols, despite their elemental associations. They appear to cause less astral strain, and the energy involved is gentler than, for example, the four alchemical triangles that magicians in the West are more familiar with. The colours match more closely the Queen Scale, and thus work on a lower level than the King Scale colours we are perhaps more familiar with. Therefore, the Tattvas present a good introduction to the art of skrying that is less likely to result in dangerous situations for those new to the technique.

That raises the question why Mathers never advocated skrying the four elemental triangles. The Neophyte learns of these triangles, and they become an essential part of magical teaching and tradition. I agreed for many years with others who suggested these symbols were more appropriate, but I have come to learn differently over time. It was not like Mathers was not aware of them. They appear to be the most logical symbols to use, and yet he chose not to. There must be a reason for this apparent oversight.

The reason for this can be better understood when we look at the following passage in the original paper on the Hexagram Ritual:

"Remember also that the triangle if apex downward is an extremely evil and hurtful symbol and it is for this reason that these symbols of the elements [fire triangle, water triangle, air triangle, earth triangle] are not usually traced as Sigils, but are replaced with the Cherubic emblems of Leo, Scorpio, Aquarius and Taurus."

One will note that in the Lesser Ritual of the Hexagram the inverted triangle is only employed in conjunction with an upright triangle, unless in very rare circumstances as a double inverted triangle for use in workings with evil forces, largely beyond the scope of the Zelator Adeptus Minor.

What this reveals, however, is that the inverted triangle, employed as the symbol of Water, is considered evil, and thus also we may consider the inverted triangle with line employed as the symbol of Earth. Thus, if we were to skry these, we would be working with evil symbols. This would go a long way to explaining the harsher energy and more straining nature I have personally experienced with these symbols. It would also explain why these familiar symbols were not employed for skrying, with the Tattvas taking their place.

It is not difficult to see why Mathers advised against using an inverted triangle. The upright triangle is, after all, one of the primary symbols of the Order and that which we aspire to, the Supernal Triad. When inverted it is similar to the pentagram, putting Kether below Chokmah and Binah, and, in effect, marking the Fall. The symbols on the altar also relate to this, for while the inverted triangle is employed, the Cross is never placed below it, for that would be the symbol of the Order entirely overturned.

Of course, the Vault walls do employ the inverted Water triangle, but note that it is balanced by the upright Fire triangle, and between them is the reconciling symbol of Air. Note also the absence of the Earth Triangle, the very emblem of that which has Fallen.

There is much in this worth careful study, but this is sufficient for understanding the place of the Tattvas in the Golden Dawn system, and why also we should look deeper into why the pieces of the system were designed in this way.

The Prison of the Planets

2013-05-06T17:43:00.000+01:00

It is five years to the day since I posted on my Gnostic blog Henosis Decanus about the relation of the planets to the Archons of Gnostic mythology. I was recently asked what my thoughts on this are after all these years, so let us explore this idea a little deeper.

In the esoteric world we are often seen as being tied to the forces of our birth charts. Our strengths and weaknesses, our high points and low points, our ideals and aims, what drives us and holds us back, are all mapped out before us like an oracle, like the foretelling of our doom.

Indeed, it is often the case that many occultists will blame their chart for their problems, admitting a kind of fatalist thinking, where who and what we are is already decided, and cannot be deviated from.

This is, in my opinion, an unacceptable approach for a magician, and certainly for a Gnostic. An adept who blames exterior forces for his or her problems is an adept hoping to escape responsibility, and thus this shows a magical immaturity which is not congruent with adepthood.

Those who seek to escape responsibility enter a greater prison of the mind and soul, handing over the keys to their being to a force or power undeserving of them. We study astrology not merely to find out who we are and are likely to be, but so that we can redirect the forces and powers to create ourselves as we see fit, knowing that the road carved out before us is not the road we necessarily have to travel.

When we climb the Tree of Life we encounter the planets in turn. The Golden Dawn's grade structure is built upon this. The subtle suggestion is that as the Theoricus gains the secrets of Yesod, he or she gains mastery over the Moon, and is thus free from her reign. Of course, we talk of the real initiation, not merely the grade attained within an order, and this is far more likely to occur in the sub-grades of Adeptus Minor or above than in the Outer Order.

So if, from a Gnostic perspective, climbing the Tree of Life allows us to gain freedom from the Archons of the planets, what happens when, in the case of the Golden Dawn, the attainable human grades stop at 7=4? Here there is a mystery, for the only remaining of the old planets is Saturn in Binah, and Saturn is the Demiurge—Saturn is Death and the bondage of mortality.

So, in one sense, there is no escaping the Demiurge for any of us, for we must all answer the call of death, but in another, far greater sense, this is the ultimate freedom, the loosening of the shackles of mortality, knowing in our mind, heart and soul that we are undying. This is the Elixir of Life, the Philosopher's Stone, that which the alchemists of old have strived for and which the complete adept attains.

Chokmah is linked with the wheel of the Zodiac, showing that even after escaping the seven jails, there is an outer wall that must be climbed. Yet even then there is Kether and the Gilgulim, the reincarnation of the soul, which is, from one perspective, another prison, similar to the samsara of the Buddhists. One freedom is, as it were, another prison, yet ultimately it is in Kether that we experience unity, and so if in there we find the jailkeeper, in there we also find the key.

Angels and Men

2013-04-24T19:35:00.001+01:00

"The angels aspire to become men, for the perfect man,
the man-God, is above every angel."

— Eliphas Levi

The Ruby Tablet, Vol. I, No. 5

2013-04-15T22:46:00.002+01:00

Issue 5 of The Ruby Tablet, compiled and edited by Golden Dawn scholar Darcy Kuntz, has been released. Check it out and donate if you like the material.

Contents

The Rosy Cross in Russia Part 1 by A Russian

Abracadabra

Golden Dawn Research Trust

The Rosy Cross in Russia Part 2 by A Russian

Kerubim Press

The Conjuration of Kronos by Frater Achad

The Twelve Angels of the Zodiac

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Books

Laws of the Brotherhood of the Rosicrucians

The Mystery of the Lords Prayer

Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn

Pasquales and his Elus Cohen by Sendivogius

Skylight Press

Astral Origins of the Zodic Signs

The Ineffable Name by A[lexander] W[ilder]

Magic and Failure

2013-03-22T19:23:00.003Z

In an interesting blog post Nick Farrell asked a pivotal, and yet frequently ignored, question about why some magic fails. He cited a number of reasons people have given over time, including classic cop-outs like God or your Higher Self saying no, and the more acceptable notion of psychological blocks.

On the first topic, I do not personally believe that God or the Higher Self would refuse a request. This might be an acceptable idea in a devotional school of thought, but magicians do not simply go with the flow—they create and direct the flow. A magician is an active player in the universe, one who takes responsibility for his or her life. If a ritual for a job is performed and it does not work, then the magician cannot simply blame God and accept this as "the way it is meant to be." Such fatalistic thinking has no place in magic.

So if external forces are not stopping us, that leaves internal forces. In many ways we are our own worst enemies, and part of the process of the Golden Dawn system is to tear down the poorly built construct enforced on us by society, our own Tower of Babalon, and build in place something with a stronger foundation, a "self" designed and moulded by us as we see fit. Of course, this is no easy task, and this is why we employ powerful occult symbolism and forces to give us an advantage in the battle with our own minds.

When a ritual fails, then, there is certainly an element of us blocking the result. We might wonder why any of us would block a result like winning the lottery, but these are usually deeply rooted subconscious blocks, the kinds of things people spend their entire lives trying to sort out, while others remain oblivious to them. Feelings of guilt or inadequacy could unearth the seeds of prosperity that are sown in a ritual, while doubt and frustration, and even the "lust for results" can cause a constant blight upon them.

Nick raised the point that this explains why his own ritual for himself might fail, but why does a ritual performed by another magician for him also fail? The same issues apply, but there are additional factors. Firstly, the manifestation is sought within person X's life, so it does not matter whether person X or person Y does the magic; it still has to go through the conduit of person X's world, where it can be assailed by all the various destructive elements of his or her psyche. And even if it manages to bypass these, person X might be in such a negative mindset in regard to the desired outcome that he or she could actually be ignoring the opportunities that are arising as a result of the magic done.

Let us use an example to drive this point home. If Bob does a ritual for wealth, but is unsuccessful, and then asks for the help of Jane, but then Bob refuses to accept a job offer or go to that social event where he would have met millionaire Tom, the issue is not that the magic has not worked, but that the resulting opportunities have not been taken. This might be through the same feelings of inadequacy that stopped Bob's ritual from working in the first place, or Bob might be so immersed in his financial issues that he not only does not see a way out, but his frustration blinds him to any doors being opened to him.

Of course, the problem with this idea is that it is hard to prove, because we do not know for certain what would have happened if any available avenue was taken. Attending the party might have led to Bob meeting Tom, but there is no guaranteeing they would have become friends, or that Tom would have offered Bob a job or paid off his debt. Missed opportunities are generally, by their very definition, things that have slipped under the radar, so it easier to simply think a ritual has not worked.

There is also the issue of whether or not a ritual should be left to its own devices or constantly reinforced. While there are various schools of thought on this, I think a middle ground approach is the most effective. When a ritual is performed, there is a "gestation" period immediately after, and ideally the magician has set a time frame for the result to become manifest, by which time he or she can judge if it has succeeded or failed. During this period it is important to let things happen, not constantly check to see if they are happening. This is the "To Keep Silent" part of the Powers of the Sphinx. The reason for this is that we performed the ritual in our magical mindset, but we usually "check in" later with our mundane mindset, which has the tendency to question, doubt and otherwise undermine our efforts. The fact that we need to check at all means we are unsure if it is really doing the job, so immediately we are smothering the seeds with doubt, or prodding at the earth with questions, potentially unearthing the seeds completely.

To balance this approach, however, we need to consider that once the gestation period is up, and if the desired outcome has not manifested, it is senseless to simply give up. The ritual, a variant, or something new entirely should be employed. If the desired outcome is monumental, then we must make an investment on a similarly large scale, potentially a long-term magical operation. Perseverance is the key to success in any aspect of life. Those who stop climbing the mountain halfway up will never reach the summit.

In the end the elaborate rituals we employ are largely designed to bypass the parts of ourselves that doubt our abilities or attempt to hold us back. Instead of using language like "I deserve X," we employ symbolic language that does this on a much more primal level, tapping into the very essence of not only our own being, but that of the universe at large. There such seeds can grow into manifest results, in much the same way we consider the Four World of the Qabalah in the formation of things from archetypal concepts to the World of Action.

The magician therefore needs to want the result more than they doubt or fear it. Then they must will it to happen with an appropriate level of investment for the scale of the result sought. Then they must not recall the line that has been thrown before the fish has a chance to bite, yet they must also provide a bait, and this is the creation of an environment where the opportunities of success can occur.

The Call of Agon is out now!

2013-03-02T18:47:00.001Z

My novel The Call of Agon: Book One of The Children of Telm is out now! You can order it on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Book Depository, and numerous other vendors.

Read the blurb:

THE LAST LINE. THE LAST WORDS. THE LAST CHANCE.

Ifferon is one of the last in the bloodline of the dead god Telm, who mated with mortal women, and who imprisoned the Beast Agon in the Underworld. Armed with a connection to the estranged gods in the Overworld and a scroll bearing Telm’s powerful dying words, he is tasked with ensuring the god’s vital legacy: that Agon remain vanquished. Fear forces Ifferon to abandon his duty, but terror restores his quest when the forces of Agon find his hideaway in an isolated coastal monastery.

Weighed down by the worries of the world, but lifted up by the companions he encounters along the way, Ifferon embarks on a journey that encompasses the struggles of many peoples, the siege of many lands, and discoveries that could bring hope to some—or doom to all.

Buy the paperback version here:

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

The Book Depository US

The Book Depository UK

Buy the Kindle version here:

Help get the word out! Tell your friends. Share on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Goodreads, and anywhere else you frequent. Thank you!

Hermetic Virtues, Vol. 6, No. 1

2013-01-07T16:27:00.000Z

Hermetic Virtues has entered its sixth year, publishing articles on the Golden Dawn and general esoteric ideas and teachings from well-known magicians in the field. Check out the contents of the latest issue:

+ The Alchemical Hexagram by Chic and Tabatha Cicero
+ The Emperor by Harry Wendrich
+ The Grimoire of Arthur Gauntlet - A book review by Aaron Leitch
+ Group Work - an unpublished Whare Ra document - Mrs. Felkin with a commentary by Nick Farrell
+ Hidden Treasures of the Golden Dawn - A book review by Samuel Scarborough
+ Invocation of the Powers of Aquarius by Jayne Gibson
+ Astrological Magic - A book review by Samuel Scarborough
+ Becoming the Star Child by Nick Farrell
+ An Invocation of Kether by Samuel Scarborough

You can order a copy here.

Regardie on Constructing a Vault

2012-10-15T02:12:00.001+01:00

A note left behind by Israel Regardie on the construction of the Vault walls offers an interesting approach to the toilsome task of mixing the appropriate colours for the numerous squares:

"The most practical plan is to have the walls of the Vault coloured as in the last diagram.

Then the way to differentiate between the various planetary sides of the Vault is simply to cover any particular side with a large sheet of strong cellophane or other plastic. So, for the Venus side, the wall could be covered with a Green sheet of plastic. For the Jupiter side with a blue sheet of plastic. For the Mars side with red. For the Saturn side with very dark blue or indigo. For the Solar side, use yellow or gold plastic. For Mercury a yellow orange plastic. And for Luna, a lavender or light violet plastic."

Putting aside the fact that the suggested colours here are wrong (the Jupiter wall should be violet, Sun should be orange, Mercury yellow, and Moon blue), this idea is a novel one, though not exactly one I find very appealing.

It "simplifies the task," as Regardie puts it, and cuts out a large volume of work required, since painting a Vault is an immense undertaking. The biggest issue with a Vault is not the construction of the room itself, but the mixing of the base colours of the squares with the base colours of the walls, resulting in a uniquely tinted assortment.

This is largely a trial or error affair, as the instructions left behind do not specify exact ratios of paint required, and this has led to existing Vaults looking sometimes very different from each other when it comes to colour tones. There is nothing wrong with this, as undoubtedly the original Vaults looked very different to each other, as each artists' work takes on, as it were, a hint of his or her character, or, indeed, the character of the Order or Temple in question.

The issue for me with Regardie's suggestion is that plastic as a material tends to take the magic out of a lot of things. We do not have to go over the top with our tools or talismans (the original members were quite fond of cardboard and coloured paper, for example), but plastic just does not cut it for me. It always feels like such a lifeless material and usually heavily reminds us of our present-day, factory-driven world, which does not exactly help with getting into the magical mindset.

I am also not particularly fond of the idea of having each wall's tint made purely from an overlaying material. I much prefer the idea that the colours are mixed to begin with to give that final hue, that you are not just looking at the same scene from a tinted window.

I suppose I am a little "old-fashioned" on this, but hand constructing and painting the Vault seems to me to be the best way to go, despite the huge investment of time and energy required. Since this is something for an entire Temple, or perhaps an Order as a whole, there will surely be at least one person involved who has enough artistic ability to do a good job with a paintbrush, and the work can be divided up to build a Vault more quickly.

That said, there are, of course, other options. Brodie-Innes suggested coloured papers. Printing is a growing trend in occult circles, which affords a potentially more accurate colour and a fancier print form of the symbols. Then there is Regardie's suggestion, and undoubtedly there are more ideas floating around for how best to undertake this task.

Mediums and the Golden Dawn

2012-10-02T06:23:00.000+01:00

Something that comes as a surprise to many when first approaching the Golden Dawn system is the prohibition against mediums, which was one of only a handful of things overtly frowned upon by the founders of the Order.

Of course, in modern groups this point might not be apparent, and in some cases the rule might not apply at all, but the original Order was very clear that mediumship was not permitted. In one of the early preliminary pledge forms that Candidates were required to sign, there was the following:

"The Chiefs of the Order do not care to accept as Candidates any persons accustomed to submit themselves as Mediums to the Experiments of Hypnotism, Mesmerism, or Spiritualism; or who habitually allow themselves to fall into a completely passive condition of Will; also they disapprove of the methods made use of as a rule in such Experiments."

This is explicit, criticising not only mediums themselves, but the manner in which they work. This is important, as the Golden Dawn tended to see such activities as a perversion of the Occult Science, a dangerous watering down of truer occult principles.

The Order did, of course, make use of esoteric practices that many would see as being similar to that of Spiritualism, such as the use of the Ring and Disc or the Tripod in the Theoricus Adeptus Minor sub-grade. The former bears some resemblance to the infamous Ouija Board, using a specially created Ring to douse above a complex Disc of numbers, symbols and letters in English, Coptic and Hebrew. The latter is clearly related to the popular performance of "table tipping," employing a special three-legged table and one or more operators.

If the parallel was not clear enough from the teachings of the grade, a paper on the Tripod describes the true occult performance as having been degraded by a growing phenomenon of the time, stating that it was "in recent years revived in a mistaken form among the Uninitiated under the title of Spiritualism and Table Turning."

The Victorian era of the Golden Dawn was also shared with the rise and peak of Spiritualism, which popularised the notion of séances and mediumship. To real magicians of great knowledge and experience this must have been harrowing to watch, in much the same was as the New Age movement or TV mediums are to modern magi.

But given that the Golden Dawn employed strikingly similar practises, on the surface, in some of its later teachings, what exactly is it about mediumship that is not tolerated? The key is passivity and the inherent danger and lack of knowledge and proper protocol employed in such activities.

Firstly, the medium opens up to whatever is out there, hoping to contact the dead, and yet not knowing if they will, and if what has been contacted is not their own subconscious, the wrong spirit, or something a little more sinister. It is epitomised in the phrase: "Is there anyone there?"

This is not the approach of the magician. The magician does not invite all and sundry into his or her temple in the hopes that something true and good shows up, but sets out with a goal in mind, selecting a spirit in question, employing its name, challenging it with various tests, and getting rid of it when desired or required.

These tests and the ability to banish are important, so much so that the Golden Dawn taught the Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram from the beginning, to Neophytes who would have to go through many more grades before beginning proper practical magical work.

The medium, however, usually lacks these safety measures. Not only do they call whatever is "out there" forth, they do not have any means to test what, if anything, shows up. There are no names or symbols or signs, no way to avoid self-delusion or the illusion of external beings.

The Golden Dawn advised safety regularly, not only teaching many ways to practise occultism in a balanced and safe manner, but coding in safeguards into the system itself. In the teachings on the Ring and Disc and the Tripod Mathers frequently warns of self-deception and obsession, offering various recommendations to limit this danger.

Yet the medium does not have these tools at their disposal, does not know how to deal with the force called upon, can merely open a door and not be certain of the ability to close it. Thus the first Power of the Sphinx, which must precede the others, is missing—and it is Knowledge.

And so a medium would be unable to truly join a Golden Dawn order, for they would immediately break their Oath, which states:

"I will not suffer myself to be hypnotised, or mesmerised, nor will I place myself in such a passive state that any uninitiated person, power, or being may cause me to lose control of my thoughts, words or actions."

The medium, who lets a spirit talk through them, would be unable to abide by this pledge, and such passivity is not what magic is about. While the Candidate of an initiation ceremony needs to be passive enough for the ritual to be successful, that is a far cry from the dangerous operation of handing over the reins to a spirit, especially a spirit that the medium knows next to nothing, or literally nothing, about.

The prohibition against mediumship was, therefore, not merely a product of the time period, but a genuine disapproval of unsafe occult practices made by those without the appropriate knowledge and experience to render the risks negligible. As such, it applies as much today as it did in the late 19th Century.

Swedish Review of Enochian Magic in Theory

2012-09-19T21:54:00.001+01:00

Robert Halvarsson of cultural magazine Tidningen Kulturen has reviewed my book Enochian Magic in Theory. You can read the original in Swedish here, but the reviewer was kind enough to translate the review below:

16th century magic today

Irish author Dean F. Wilson have a strong inclination and interest towards the magical-religious system in modern times referred to as enochian magic. This is evident through Kerubim press release of the book Enochian magic in theory. Through this work Wilson makes a skilled attempt at laying down the theoretical foundation which is part of the system that came out of 16th century Christian occultism. Namely the work begun by astrologer John Dee and clairvoyant Edward Kelley, and their communication with a number of entities they thought to be angels.

Through the 19th century’s occult revival, this body of work and more non-rationalist systems were invented or conjured from the past. In the case of enochian magic this was done largely through the Rosicrucian influenced magical order of the Hermetic order of the Golden Dawn (HOGD), Rosae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis and its later incarnations. These organizations popularized the works of Dee and Kelley, and also changed several aspects of it.

In our modern times Wilson is a modern heir to the original impulse coming from Dee, through his own Golden Dawn-oriented blog Mishkan ha-Echad and other writing he continues the angelology that made Dee’s name to be remembered. Enochian magic in theory is thought of as the first of a series of two books – the latter focusing more on the practical applications of the theoretical framework presented herein.

Now, it should be noted that Wilson is a practitioner of the system he here espouses. This is clearly evident in the way that he writes about the topic. He also doesn’t dismiss other peoples ideas of the system out of hand, that goes against his own theories of the nature of the enochian system, rather he argues and presents these ideas and then contributes his own theories.

This becomes evident when Wilson argues against the American qabbalist and hermetic author Paul Foster Case. Case believed that the system was inherently dangerous for the mental health of practitioners, these arguments are preserved in a letter addressed to Golden Dawn-author Israel Regardie. Wilson presents Case’s arguments, and then provides his own ideas in contrast.

Wilson also makes several arguments to support the claim that the enochian system is both working, real and not inherently dangerous if the right precautions are taken. The angels themselves though, are hardly the image we have of victorian kerubim, but rather firmly rooted of a larger biblical tradition. Also, which should be noted, some consider these also as part of an apocalyptic tradition as well.

Regardless as to what we choose to believe about the legitimacy of the angels existence, Wilson’s clear prose should make us understand his arguments without any second-guessing. A refreshing thing while taking into account the inherent complexity of the source-material itself.

Enochian magic in theory is a piece of work that should have marginal interest to the general public, but is well-written and collects a lot of knowledge in one place. Besides containing a background, there are also discussions of the nature of the language itself, as well as grammatical and phonetic speculations.

Fortunately, given the seriousness of the ideas and the argued danger of wrong application, Wilson always comes forward as approaching the system with a keen sense of respect for its volatile aspects. At all times he advocates safety-measures to be taken and right preparations. This posits him in stark contrast to some magical groups and individuals of today. And considering the ongoing popularity of esotericism, this is a good thing – and hopefully will provide somewhat of an antidote to the potential of reckless behaviour.

Text: Robert Halvarsson

The Challenge by Eyes of Wood

2012-09-01T01:04:00.000+01:00

Check out one of my latest projects: a mix of music, verse, and art. Our first musical piece, The Challenge, was released as part of the The Hermetic Library Anthology Album - Magick, Music and Ritual Volume 4. Check out our Facebook page for more details and some amazing artwork by K. Blalack.

Tell me what you think. This is the first of many upcoming pieces.

The Challenge by Eyes of Wood

(Music by Rebecca Loftiss and Frank Suchomel; Vocals by Rebecca Loftiss and Dean F. Wilson)

The Challenge

Lyrics by Dean F. Wilson

I waited in middle moments, in the hidden hours,
And cast my ears like spells unto every little sound;
A creak or tap I heard; is that the speech of powers
That have no mouths in places where they are spectres bound?

In answer to vocal questions came my rampant mind,
A million more inquiries that from my head would flee;
And yet my probing prayers are one by one all declined,
And so the voiceless was the only voice to greet me.

-

Then I spirit-spoke like the utterance of hammers,
A sharp sound that strikes the timeless clock across the veil.
The words that come, they all allure like charming glamours;
My ghostly voice works alchemy on your face turned pale.

So you called me now, and yet start at my arrival,
As if a guest invited should not attend the meal.
The panic in you whispers soft for your survival
And entreats the mind to tell the heart that I’m not real.

-

I called you forth, but are you that which you now claim?
Are you not the product of my tired and trickster head?
Come, tell me now – speak aloud your true and rightful name,
So I know I talk not to my own mind, but to the dead.

Give me a sign, some token to show that you are there,
A subtle hint, an object moved, some small proof of truth.
Manifest before me, cast some thing into the air,
And I will judge your being, I will be the spirit sleuth.

-

So you challenge me and hope inside that I accept.
You summon from within you the words that cause us strife,
Yet know little of the pacts that must by law be kept –
As if this were but some Faustian fable brought to life.

But if I reach to you with my ethereal touch
And seize you by the hand: What reaction will be met?
Will that be enough, or is even that perhaps too much?
What deed or word will do in this phantasmic duet?

-

You slither from my questions; this is not cold debate.
The books give clear instructions – I am to challenge you.
You can still answer much in your far-off spirit state,
And show me that what you say, and what you are, is true.

You are bound within the triangle, held by higher will,
But maybe you are a thing imprisoned in my mind,
An idea that was trapped, a thought that I distil,
And thus we talk within; the pact outside remains unsigned.

-

The challenge runs both ways, but you hoard up all the cards,
And should I not heed your call, then you shall cry “Avaunt!”
So then I flee, but now I’m locked within your occult guards,
An astral refugee in foreign lands, your favoured haunt.

No matter what I speak, show, or make from naught appear,
The question still exists: Are we one, or are we two?
We may not share in flesh, but we all share in this fear –
You seek the same as I: someone to believe in you.

The Ruby Tablet, Vol. I, No. 3

2012-08-22T22:06:00.001+01:00

Issue 3 of The Ruby Tablet, compiled and edited by Darcy Kuntz, has been released. Check it out and donate if you like the material.

Contents

The Egyptian Belief by P.W. Bullock

Hebraic Aspects of the Ritual by Bro. Harry Carr

The Order of Saint Catherine of Mount Siani

L'Homme de Désire

The Riddle of Man's Life by Nathanael

The Password of the Equinox

2012-07-18T00:03:00.000+01:00

The Password, like everything in the Golden Dawn tradition, is more than just a word used to distinguish initiates from non-initiates - it has magical reasons and applications that far surpass its mundane purpose.

At each Equinox the Password is changed. The Hiereus explains why this occurs: "The password ... will be periodically changed at each Equinox so that a member who has resigned, demitted or been expelled from the Order, may be in ignorance of the existing password."

This is the practical reason, which makes sense and ties in with the Masonic roots of the practice. It was likely particularly useful in the Victorian era when members may have been travelling long distances and would not have had the luxury of internet groups from which they could get to know people — leaving the Password as one of the primary forms of knowing who was or was not an initiate for those who had not met before.

But magic underscores all that we do, and while much of our ritual technique comes from Masonic convention, the additional layer of magic is what makes it the Golden Dawn.

The Password is, in many ways, a temporary magical motto for the Order, and just as the motto represents the spiritual and magical goals of the initiate, so too does the Password represent the spiritual and magical goals of the Order for the period it is in use.

The Chiefs of the Order or Temple may choose a Password in a variety of ways, such as a more passive form via divination (like the Ring and Disc), which can be opened with an invocation to the Guardians of the Hidden Knowledge and the egregore of the Order, allowing it to suggest a word that will best suit what is needed at the time.

A more active technique is also possible, where the Chiefs may decide upon a specific short-term goal for the group, depending on the specific issues or aspirations noted at the time.

The ramifications of the Password chosen may also be explored through divination, and a combination of active and passive techniques can be employed to find the most appropriate word to install at the Equinox.

There are many magical applications of the Password for all members as well. It connects them to the egregore of the Order and can be employed on a regular basis as part of a connection rite. It can also be used literally as a password to get into an astral temple.

We are tasked in the Oath to not discuss anything pledged to secrecy with anyone unless "they are in possession of the password for the time being." The Password, therefore, is that mystical word with which we bridge the silence of a primal sleep. It is the lock that keeps the secrets safe, and also the key to unlocking those secrets, for it is the word spoken to the Sentinel on approaching the temple doors, the word that bars and opens.

Book Review: Enochian Magic in Theory [Behutet Magazine]

2012-07-02T17:30:00.001+01:00

Review by Charles Humphries

(Published in a forthcoming issue of Behutet Magazine)

Enochian Magic in Theory

Dean F. Wilson (a.k.a. Frater Yechidah)

Kerubim Press, Copyright Dublin 2012

Trade Paperback, Nonfiction, Magick Reference

ISBN: 978-1-908705-03-7

$30.00 US (most websites and retailers)

http://kerubimpress.com/enochianmagicintheory/

Dean F. Wilson has offered the first of two of what look to be refreshing and welcome additions to the Enochian Section of any Magician’s library. Meant to be the first of two books, one of Theory and one of Practice, Enochian Magic in Theory is basically a summary of the structure of the extant records of the operations of John Dee and Edward Kelley. There are several accounts of these, with most die-hard enthusiasts having and perusing their own scans of the manuscripts themselves. I myself have spent the better part of two decades going through exactly that process. I know well the mistakes commonly made, the ideas that get merged with but do not originate with the “Enochian” source journals. I have a fairly impressive experience in Golden Dawn related approaches, and was a veteran of the infamous rounds of early Enochian internet subculture under many various screen names and guises.

Upon receiving my copy of Dean’s publication, I was filled with excitement. From the minute this book is in your hands, you see its quality. I have read his blog on occasion, and spoke with him online enough to understand he is very much of a similar mind as me on the fallacy of words such as “right and wrong” and is more liable to use “consistent and sincere” as a complimentary polarity of true use to a magician not crippled by superstition and arrogance. In the six months or so I have occasionally spoken with Dean, I greatly enjoy our conversations which have revealed him as a person well-qualified to write a book expressing his perspective on popular opinions on Enochian Magic.

He spares no expense making such a treasurehouse of opinions from most sources, either. In fact, from printed and electronically distributed perspectives on nearly every source of easily attained Enochian scholarship I have seen, ranging from the best-selling and easily digested to the freely distributed and brain wracking, he pretty much samples a bit of all of them. If you are not sure where or who to start with in Enochian Magic and just want to see a combined outline of the prevalent thoughts on the components, and see their integration, his book is frankly the perfect choice. I could not imagine I have three books on my shelf on John Dee or Enochian that he does not cover, mention, or quote; aside from an obscure textbook translated from Poland. And just as freely, he credits fellow artisans and scholars with their own findings. Unfortunately, in such a book I would expect to see some reinteration, and some misstatement or biased conclusions. One HUGE one is the old conclusion about IAD BALT (Lord of Justice) and Yaldoboath.

There is really no reason to think these two are connected aside from their phonic similarity. There are a few other conclusions I do not share and a few facts I would check about the order of things, and some leaps I probably make that he does not, but all of that is ultimately not really important to know we can agree to disagree. However, even though I disagree with the idea as presented, I do encourage one entertain it themselves. I also like that he mentions several prevailing ideas that even he questions. If anything, Enochian Magic in Theory is a supercharged well-executed effort to bring a magician up to speed on the general variety of influences, opinions, and ideas one might encounter in the broad spectrum of people drawn to this Art.

Dean’s writing style is easy to read, and his treatment of subjects is both speculative and competent. He makes good use of his 356 pages to include a dictionary of the calls, a list of the expansive catalogues of spirits, and to illustrate nearly every table that is diagrammed in Dee’s own work. His writing style is far from formal, but it is certainly more engaging than a casual tone. You immediately sense that Dean not only believes the potency of this work, but that he has experienced it. Furthermore, he encourages that experience to form an opinion of your own. I rather like that approach instead of the “sheltered genius” amassing everyone else’s findings.

The binding is great, the spine does not break from casual reading, and the interlaid textured-blue graphics that form a nice backdrop to an imposed Sigillum many will recognize as a centerpiece to John Dee’s work. But the real gem is the work itself, though I encourage EVERY person who seeks to look into actual practice of this work look back into the diaries of John Dee that we are fortunate to still have. This book provides a quality resource for those who do so, or just want to skip the 16th century and just start working it immediately. This book is written fearlessly, and with little of the stigma or overly cautious tone many books address Enochian in. I would personally be comfortable saying this would be a excellent first book on Enochian Magic, and a invaluable resource in the personal library of even seasoned participants in the legacy of John Dee, The Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, and other modern approaches. I eagerly wait this book's companion, presumably "Enochian Magic in Practice" and anticipate being equally satisfied with how he develops such a well rounded understanding of the full spectrum of what is considered "Enochian Magic" into a body of practical work and personal development.

In Celebration

2012-06-24T17:12:00.000+01:00

In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of the consecration of the Vault of the Adepti of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn by Francis Israel Regardie...

The ages pass like crumpled pages in a book,

Some still pristine within the annals of our mind;

A century to come and go is all it took

For much of magic to be lost, and now we find

That somehow it is here again for us to know.

The birthright of our hungered spirit lingers still,

The fruit of inner trees we weather, nurse and sow

That we might come in contact with our higher will.

The light glows stronger now, despite time's leaden hold;

The magi stir from deep within their temple tombs —

What once was but a metal has become fair gold,

And where an ancient garden was, a rose now blooms.

Hermetic Virtues, Vol. 5 No. 4

2012-06-24T16:18:00.001+01:00

Volume 5, Issue No. 3 of Hermetic Virtues has been released, containing the following excellent articles and reviews:

+ Hidden Church by John Michael Greer
+ The Hierophant by Harry Wendrich
+ Tools of Light by Chic Cicero
+ New Way of Looking at Golden Dawn Rituals – a book review by Samuel Scarborough
+ Traditional Golden Dawn and the Missing Landmarks by Nick Farrell
+ King Over the Water – a book review by Frater YshY
+ Two Thrones for the Golden Dawn by Aaron Leitch
+ Summer Solstice Ritual by Darcy Kuntz
+ Change Your Motto, Change Your Destiny by Eric V. Sisco
+ Consciousness and the Tree of Life by Jane Gibson
+ An Invocation of Chokmah by Samuel Scarborough
+ Enochian Magic in the Golden Dawn Tradition by Dean Wilson
+ The Origins of the Rosicrucian Society in England by Ian Cowburn

To obtain a copy, click here.

Venus and the Vault of the Adepti

2012-06-04T05:24:00.002+01:00

One of the mysteries of the Vault is the fact that it is entered through the side of Venus, which seems at first to be strange, especially when the grade of 5=6 is attributed to the Sun. There are many reasons for this, however, some obvious, and others somewhat more subtle.

The usual explanation I see given is that Venus is, as Regardie put it, "the occult planet which represents the Genius of this Order." Of course, he was a member of the Stella Matuina (Latin for "Morning Star," a title given to Venus, along with Evening Star), so Venus was certainly strongly applicable there, but the link is somewhat more tenuous when considering the original order and its other offshoots, all of which employed references to the Sun in their name. "Golden Dawn" is obvious enough, while "Morgenrothe" is "Dawn" (from the German for "Morning Redness") and AO is, according to Mathers, the ancient Egyptian root for "Dawn." Venus, therefore, is not as important in the name, at least.

Venus does have significant occult value, however, that gives it a prominence above the other planets when looked at from a certain perspective. Some of this is covered by Westcott:

"[The Chief Adept] has Mars and Geburah at his right hand, and Jupiter and Gedulah at his left hand. He faces Venus in the West, the Evening Star, which represents the entry of the Candidate who has toiled all day until the evening. At even he enters the Western door of the planet Venus, that sole planet unto whose symbol alone all the Sephiroth are conformed. ... [The newly admitted Adept] enters through the Green side of the Vault. Green is the colour of growth; let him see that he grows."

- William Wynn Westcott, The Symbolism of the Seven Sides.

The encompassing of all the Sephiroth is important, as this represents the complete Tree of Life and links with the Ankh that is also significant to the Adeptus Minor ritual.

The idea of growth is equally important, although it could be argued that this is countered by the strong symbolism of death in the 5=6 ceremony itself. The colour green is interesting, however, as it is the flashing colour of red, and these two colours are employed on the lamen of the Hierophant, the Outer Order officer applicable to the grade of 5=6.

There is another occult significance, however. The Hebrew letter to which the planet Venus is attributed to is Daleth, which means "Door." It makes sense then that the Venus wall would be the door to the Vault.

However, the most important reason is because the previous Sephirah that the initiate has come from is Netzach, from the 4=7 grade, which is attributed to the planet Venus. Therefore in order to enter Tiphareth, wherein lies the Vault, the initiate must enter through the Venus door.

"Perceive with the Soul..."

2012-06-03T16:09:00.001+01:00

"Yet even in the 1=10 grade you are told you must analyse and comprehend that Light or Knowledge, and not only take it on personal authority. Let us then be Adepti in fact, and not only on the surface; let our investigations be more than skin deep. That only which you demonstrate is really known to you, and that only which is comprehended can fructify and become spiritual progress as distinguished from intellectual gain. Unless you can perceive with the soul as well as see with the eye your progress is but seeming, and you will continue to wander in the wilds of the unhappy."

- William Wynn Westcott, The Symbolism of the Seven Sides

The Ruby Tablet, Vol. I, No. 2

2012-05-18T00:15:00.001+01:00

Issue 2 of The Ruby Tablet, compiled and edited by Darcy Kuntz, has been released. Check it out and donate if you like the material.

Contents

The Secret or Mystery of the Rose

Notes: Sephiroth and Hermetic Brothers of Egypt

Skylight Press

Notes on the Astral Light by B.N. Acle

Golden Dawn Research Trust

Ritual of the Fratres Lucis (concluded)

Rosicrucian Order of the Golden Dawn

Allocution for the 2=9 Grade of Theoricus

Ouroboros Press

Alchemy by Parabolanus

Forge Press

The Tarot: An Antique Method of Divination

Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn Books

Magical Aphorisms of Eugenius Philalethes

Sharing the Golden Dawn Tradition

2012-05-14T21:58:00.002+01:00

Francis Israel Regardie earned fame and notoriety when he published many of the rituals and teachings of the Golden Dawn, heralding a new period in the Order's complex history.

In his book My Rosicrucian Adventure (since republished as What You Should Know About The Golden Dawn), Regardie shared his views about the preservation of the Golden Dawn system by sharing it with the wider world.

"...it is essential that the whole system should be publicly exhibited so that it may not be lost to mankind. For it is the heritage of every man and woman – their spiritual birthright."

It is difficult to say what would have happened if Regardie had not published his book. Some temples closed their doors, while others continued relatively undisturbed. Yet it is largely through Regardie's work that most modern Golden Dawn students came across the system, and it is also mostly through Regardie (and Crowley) that the Order's teachings have permeated the wider Western Mystery Tradition.

So then for those of us fortunate enough to belong to magical orders and/or have access to a plethora of unpublished documents from over the years, it begs the question what we can do to help fellow Fratres and Sorores grow their knowledge of the system so that it may better inform their practice.

In his post on this year's Pantheacon, Donald Michael Kraig wrote the following:

"In his earlier workshop, Chic had shown photos of that Vault, something that, traditionally, never should have been done. In this workshop about his relationship with Regardie, he stated that he, like Regardie, believed that the information on the system needs to be shared, not hidden away. As a result, Chic revealed that in forthcoming books, he and his wife are going to be revealing some previously secret and unpublished Golden Dawn knowledge and techniques (rather than keeping them private to aggrandize power and money for themselves)."

We have already seen some of this sharing with the wider community with the publication of a number of books recently that reveal some of the rituals and teachings of the Golden Dawn, the Stella Matutina, and the Alpha et Omega, but since there are hundreds of unpublished documents still gathering dust in private collections, I think it is fair to say that this is only the beginning.

Book Review: Enochian Magic in Theory

2012-05-06T01:54:00.001+01:00

Into the Aethyrs of Enochian Magic

Review by Samuel Scarborough

(Published in Hermetic Virtues, Vol. 5, No. 3)

Enochian Magic – whether you are talking about Dee purist, Golden Dawn, or something different, there appears to be no more “sexy” magical system or magical mythos within the Western Mystery Tradition. There is something that just attracts most people in the esoteric community to Enochian magic in one way or another – whether those people are seasoned magicians with years of experience or fresh faced beginners.

The latest entry into the field of Enochian magic is Dean F. Wilson’s Enochian Magic in Theory. There are several books on or about Enochian magic at any one time in print and available. Some are sensational books filled with lots of inaccurate material written by people with little or no practical magical experience, especially with Enochian magic. Some of these books are just rehashes of earlier books without much effort on the part of the author to further illuminate their topic. Not so with Enochian Magic in Theory. Dean F. Wilson is a magician in the classic sense that has studied and practiced magic in several different magical orders. He has a specialty with Enochian in both its Golden Dawn and Dee purist forms. This gives Wilson something of a unique perspective to write about Enochian magic.

So what is covered in this new book on Enochian magic? A fair question considering that a great deal of the material has been published over the years. Dean F. Wilson covers the basics of the history of how the Enochian System came to be through the scrying sessions of Dr. John Dee and Edward Kelley in the late 16^th century. He also provides a straightforward overview of material that was received during these scrying sessions. This includes information on the “shewstone”, the ring, the Sigillum Dei Aemeth, the Table of Practice, the Lamen, the Bonorum, the Tablet of Nalvage, and the Watchtowers.

All of this has been covered before in other books, but what Wilson is able to do, is explain even some of the more complex elements of the Enochian material in such a way as to be straight forward and easy (or easier) to grasp.

Wilson also takes a look at the various styles of Enochian. He goes into some detail about the differences in what has been termed “Dee purist”, which is using Dee’s system as we have it from Dee’s diaries; and the version of the system as used by the Golden Dawn/Crowley. While the Golden Dawn version is heavily influenced by the Dee material, it has in many ways gone its own direction and has become something a bit different. Wilson also hits on the multitude of modern – that is to say, interpretations of both the Dee purist and the Golden Dawn models that were developed in the late 20^th century into the early 21^st century – methods of using the Enochian system of magic. All these differing approaches to using Enochian can get confusing, especially for the novice Enochian practitioner, and it helps to see and understand some of these various methodologies being set forth for comparison.

Also in the Enochian Magic in Theory, Wilson gives a very nice break down of the Enochian Calls – those invocations for working with the various Angels. It is from these Calls that most of the Enochian words are derived. Dean Wilson lays out the Calls in a very easy manner so that they are conveyed in both Enochian and English to the reader. He further expands upon these Calls in his two appendices. One on gematria, which is a theory that the letters of the Enochian language have a numerical value, and that those words which have the same numerical value have a direct correlation to each other. In the second appendix, Wilson provides an Enochian Dictionary based upon his work with the system.

Following this Enochian dictionary of Wilson’s is a bibliography and a very comprehensive index. Both of which are pleasures to see as many “modern” esoteric books seem to leave these portions from the book making it difficult for the reader to quickly locate material within the book itself and/or not being able to do further research on their own into the sources of information used by the author.

What really makes the book shine, as it were, is that Wilson is obviously very familiar with his subject matter from both a theoretical and practical point of view. It shows in his level for research – the book is heavily footnoted throughout – and in the way that he writes about the Enochian system, whether about the history of the system, its use in either the purist Dee format or the Golden Dawn format, and in the theory surrounding much of the Enochian material. Wilson’s explanation of the Sigillum Dei Aemeth and it constituent parts, is one of the best and most uncomplicated that I have ever seen published heretofore.

When Wilson discusses the Watchtowers and how they are used, he shows both the “traditional” Dee method and the Golden Dawn method; giving clear examples between the two methods that have come to dominate the “Enochian Tradition” in modern times. He is obviously familiar with both of these methods and does not brow-beat the reader with whether one version is better than another – simply shows the two and allows the reader or practitioner to implement or not whichever into their working paradigm.

Enochian Magic in Theory is a heavy book. That is it is both large, 378 pages of laviously illustrated material and that the subject matter is complex, often difficult to follow and understand. Wilson manages to write in a way that clearly gets his point across to the reader. He does not over intellectualize in his discussion of the material or with his own theories regarding the material and its uses. This is a godsend to the reader who can concentrate on gleaning the information for use in whatever magical paradigm they are familiar. The diagrams and illustrations given throughout the book clearly and concisely exemplify the points that Mister Wilson is making within the accompanying text.

The second appendix provides a theory for creating and using Enochian gematria. This is a rather intriguing concept. Wilson simply gives the basics of the theory in a way that makes it easy to access, but leaves it to further work, either by himself or others, to flesh this theory out more fully.

What can one say about Enochian magic? It is definitely considered “sexy” by those that see it as something of a crowning jewel in the Western Mystery Tradition. It has certainly built up a mythos and mystique over the last four centuries, and especially during the 20^th century. Dean F. Wilson clearly shows this mystique in his work, but he does not obfuscate the material he is writing about in any overtly mystique. He does the refreshing – he actually lays the Enochian system out in a manner that is easy to comprehend, packed with information without overwhelming the reader.

Mister Wilson suggests that there will be a sequel to Enochian Magic in Theory which will delve into the more practical applications of using the Enochian system. If it is anything like what he has written in this first book, then we all are in store for a real gem of knowledge and experience.

There are many good books on Enochian magic and even more horrible books on Enochian. There are few that would be considered great books on Enochian. Dean F. Wilson’s Enochian Magic in Theory takes its place amongst those few great books. Here is a book that is usable, informative, and most importantly accessible on one of the more complex subjects in the Western Mystery Tradition – Enochian Magic. Enochian Magic in Theory should become one of the new standards for working with Enochian magic and it will be referenced and used by those both learning the system and those who are grizzled veterans of Enochian magic.

Enochian Magic in Theory by Dean F. Wilson

Kerubim Press

ISBN: 978-1-908705-03-7. 378 pages. €25 ($30 USD)

Poetry: Candlelight Key

2012-04-25T21:07:00.000+01:00

A poem I wrote in 2006:

In vessels of beauty I sought the beloved;
I sailed upon seas made of poetry and prose.
This tongue-tied tale of a travelling wayman
Brought me to the foot of the cross and the rose -
And there in the shadow the hidden light shows.

In moments of rapture and deep thoughts enclosing,
I rode on a mule that was made out of me;
This trip was in darkness, though on the horizon,
Was a single star shining for all us to see.
Lost in my thoughts, I was trapped and yet free.

In times of great trial when the dark is approaching,
I only need look past this valley of death,
This cage of bleak remnants and careful supposings,
To the great and wide ocean outside the fish net,
Where the waters still nourish and the Mother is met.

Inside are the waters, within is the Tree;
I sailed upon oceans that were all within me.
It took me so long to stop sailing and Be,
And in that pure Being my being was set free -
Let no Dark avail, for the Light is the Key.

Hermetic Virtues, Vol. 5 No. 3

2012-04-23T19:46:00.000+01:00

Volume 5, Issue No. 3 of Hermetic Virtues has been released, containing the following excellent articles and reviews:

+ The Path of the Chameleon: Golden Dawn Color Studies by Sandra Tabatha Cicero

+ The Lovers by Harry Wendrich

+ Spiritual Development by Frater YShY

+ The Elemental Weapons of the Adept by Jayne Gibson

+ A life magical and rich - review by Samuel Scarborough

+ An invocation of Binah by Samuel Scarborough

+ The Book of the Concourse of the Watchtowers: An Exploration of Westcott's Enochian Tablets - review by Lauren E. Gardner

+ Restoring the Goddess of Nature to the 1=10 by Nick Farrell

+ Into the Aethyrs of Enochian - review by Samuel Scarborough

+ An invocation of Qadesh Aphariel (Perfect Spirit) by V.H. Soror A.A.

To obtain a copy, click here.

Book Review: By Names and Images

2012-04-19T01:54:00.002+01:00

Peregrin Wildoak's first book, By Names and Images: Bringing the Golden Dawn to Life, is an aptly-titled exploration of the Golden Dawn system of magic from a unique perspective. It delves into the inner workings of the rituals and techniques utilised by the Order and provides an accessible guidebook and manual for working with and within the Golden Dawn tradition.

At 371 pages this is a comprehensive text, exploring many of the important teachings of the Order in some detail, with chapters on purification, meditation, divination, aura control, invocation, evocation, inner plane work, and initiation. The material on auras and dramatic invocation is particularly good, showing a wealth of experience and insight in this area.

I do not always agree with some of the things Wildoak suggests, such as drawing up the light from the Earth in the Qabalistic Cross, but it is interesting to see another approach to this thriving magical tradition. There are also a couple of Hebrew errors, but these are relatively minor and do not detract from the overall quality of the work.

Perhaps the biggest strength of this book is the fact that it highlights the importance of the inner workings that actually make the Golden Dawn rituals and ceremonies operate effectively. The original Order left behind a wealth of material, but there are definite gaps in the system which need to be filled by modern adepts. While many of Wildoak's suggested inner workings are not strictly traditional, they do provide a workable system for enhancing ritual practice and show how other magicians can instil more life into their magical work.

By Names and Images is more than just a theoretical text, however. It is, in many ways, a detailed manual, giving step-by-step instructions for the performance of ritual magic. This is primarily aimed at solitary magicians, but temple members can equally benefit from seeing how a fellow Frater does things. Instructions at the end of the book for connecting with the Golden Dawn egregore provide a workable alternative or supplementary material to existing approaches of self-initiation.

This book was supposed to be released many years ago, but a delay at the previous publisher means that this material has only now come to light. This is a pity, as I can see how beneficial something like this would have been to aspiring magicians several years ago, but it is good to see small publishing companies like Skylight Press ensuring texts like this are made available.

Wildoak's passion for the Golden Dawn and spiritual growth pervades this work, which constantly affirms a connection to the divine, something that cannot be accessed by just going through the motions in our ceremonies and rituals. We might know the names and images that are used in Golden Dawn work, but Wildoak highlights some of the inner work that really brings the system to life.