Customer Reviews

The Golden Dawn: The Original Account of the Teachings, Rites & Ceremonies of the Hermetic Order (Llewellyn's Golden Dawn)

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book in an incredible compendium of the original papers of the Golden Dawn. Isreal Regarde, when he broke ranks and published these papers, laid the foundation for the modern occult movement.

This book contains everything the aspiring adept ever wanted to know about the rituals and teaching of the Golden Dawn (the only more complete work is "The Complete Golden Dawn" published by New Falcon).

A warning though, the reading is dense and betrays the ethics, morality, and biases of the late Victorian era. Much of the ritual offers little in terms of practical magic to the modern magician (unless you are working on mastering the Golden Dawn system).

In the days when education was valued, magic(k)al knowledge was a closely guarded secret. Today, on the other hand (and unfortunately), if you want to keep something a secret, then you must hide it between two covers.

This is the ultimate reference for any sudent of the occult, regardless of school. In it one finds the mindset of every original GD member (before they all became profiteering, drug abusing, egomaniacs) who started the Western occult revival. Absolutely anything you could ever think of concerning occult matters is here, presented and indexed in a manner that makes it easy to use. It should be noted that while this book reveals the ENTIRE Golden Dawn, any flaws in its philosophy are inherent to the book. No two systems, for instance, can ever agree on the crafting of tools and elemental weapons, or on their proper use. If one's own system is unclear on a certain point, however, this book can clarify it and/or supplement it easily.

Step by step instruction is lacking and certain fundamental ideas are assumed to be known and understood by the reader... a complete beginner would be lost with this book alone. It is an invaluable reference for someone who has a certain level of practical experience, but a book like Don Kraig's Modern Magick would be preferable to start with.

That being said, it is a virtual "must have" in the library of any serious magician, be they traditional GD, thelemite, aurum solis, or of any other western tradition.

What can I say..awsome book by one of the Great Magi of our times!Gives you the complete system from top to bottom as far as the Golden Dawn goes.Beginers could use this book...but Id suggest Donald Michael Criegs "Modern magick" first if your realy new to the system!But just to help give you some foundation before you dive into this complete Tome.Suppliment it with some od Isreal's teachings on CD and youll go far.......fast!

I purchased this book a few years ago and found it to be terribly cumbersome. Don't get me wrong, this is a must own for any Kabbalist or one interested in High Magick. I consider it to be the best reference for the historical Golden Dawn, and I am generally pleased with it today.
However, for the solitary practitioner with no ties to an Hermetic Temple of any kind, Regardie's book is too much, too soon. I would reccomend before purchasing this book, you read the Tree of Life, A Garden of Pomegranates, and even the Cicero's Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition. The first two books give an excellent background on ceremonial magic and the Kabbalah, and the third is a more easily workable exposition of the Golden Dawn. After going through these works, one can understand the much of the content of The Golden Dawn as never before.

The book, "The Golden Dawn," is not a graded course although it contains enough material to keep one studying for years. Multitudes of subjects one can take lifetimes to master, Astrology, Tarot, Numerology, Geomancy, Meditation, Alchemy, Enochian system, QBL, ect., can be found here in great detail.

By going through a graded course such as the Cicero's, "Self Initiation," or "Modern Magick," by Donald Michael Kraig and using this book as supplementary material one could make much progress upon the esoteric path by this Golden Dawn tradition.

Re: Initiation. Temple initiation is by far the ideal route for those to whom this tradition resonates. (This book contains invaluable material to study side by side with ones own temple material.) That being said, it would be redundant of me to point out that this book contains nearly every imaginable "spoiler," for those who will seek that path. So there are several choices. To leave the initiations alone until one has the privilege of experiencing them, or to carefully dissect and understand them one at a time, until at great length they are built into ones aura, whether working with a temple or not.

It is to those seeking the latter that I dedicate the following.

Spend at least several months on the study of the Neophyte initiation. The Ciceros recommend building a temple and give a well thought out course for self initiation. I would recommend building a small scale model of the temple, or even organizing it like a paper chess board. Break down the entire classical ritual and understand each of its parts. One will also see what is omitted from the Ciceros version and get a better glimpse of the entire ritual. This is nice to do in combination with the "Z" docs. Spend much time with Z.1 and 3 (and if one has access to Zalewski's invaluable Z.5 you are very lucky.) The Z documents are for the Adept Heirophant who will officiate the initiation, and for the officers who will be performing it.

Break it down, learn the significance of each piece. Take notes and try to understand the significance of each part, officer, piece of furniture and item used. Try to discover the elements of the ritual, perhaps re-examining it after each chapter of "Modern Magick," (or similar,) is completed.

The Golden Dawn tradition is really historically amazing. Even though much of the material was available in other sources at the time of the formation of the GD, no other single source brought it all together so cohesively, often combining extraordinarily rare and obscure texts. This century which has followed its birth has seen countless contributions from many adepts who have worked through and pieced together a collective opus unknown and unmatched in history. For those who master this work there are a multitude of areas which the next generation will expand. This is a potentially never ending sea of expansion of which, in its already current vastness, it is possible we have merely seen the first drop of that which will one day be an ocean.

"And the voice of my undying and secret soul said unto me, 'Let me enter the Path of Darkness and peradventure, there shall I find the Light. I am the only being in an abyss of Darkness, from Darkness came i fourth, ere my birth from the Silence of a Primal Sleep.'"

"And the Voice of the Ages answered to my Soul, 'I am he who formulates in Darkness, the Light that shineth in Darkness, yet the Darkness comprehendeth it not.'"

-From the Neophyte Ritual of the Golden Dawn

Knox Om Pax
LVX

Not for a rank beginner, this massive opus is a vademecum for those interested in and a desire to explore New Worlds. While basic Qabalistic knowledge is helpful (Regardie's ART OF TRUE HEALING or Dion Fortune's MYSTICAL QABALAH), this is a veritable labyrinth of information for the beginner. The new introductions are extremely helpful. Be advised that this is not a "read cover-to cover" tome, but one which must be carefully studied and pondered. While some suggestions are given for approaching the book, each reader must discover his or her own way into this dense forest of metaphysical -- occult, if you prefer, but with the knowledge that "occult" merely means "hidden" and NOT "Satanic" as fundamentalists would have you believe -- teachings and lore. Not for the abecedarian.

When I purchased this book, I was under the impression that it would contain a course to guide me through the Golden Dawn system. I was wrong. This is merely a collection of writings/notes by Regardie, and is not meant to be used alone.

If you are looking for a course through the Golden Dawn system, I would recommend the book _Self Initiation Into The Golden Dawn Tradition_ by Chic and Sandra Cicero. I'm not sure how easy it is to find this book still, but it is possible to purchase from the publisher's website.

This book includes most of the major rituals and teachings of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn from the late 1800s and early 1900s. Unfortunately, the GDs golden era is long over, but their teachings have lived on and continued to cast a great beam of brilliant light over the Western Mystery Tradition of Occultism. The stuff in this book is essential to the beginner and Adept alike and well worth the cash to buy it.

When it comes to the subject of ritual magic and the occult, I would be hard-pressed to think of another book that one should buy. True, it contains information that can be found in a dozen other books, both older and newer than this one. What matters is the presentation. The most important achievement of the Order of the Golden Dawn was to create a working system of magical training. By reading this book and performing the exercises it prescribes with regularity and detail, the occult student embarks on the voyage of "becoming more than human". The study program in this book is intended to train the mind to be capable of working magick, not just provide a series of rituals that are fun and entertaining. Aleister Crowley said that magic isn't just a tool to be picked up and put down according to necessity and desire, its a change of lifestyle that necessitates a complete transformation in behaviour and thought. This book is, in my opinion, the first step towards doing just that. If you are interested in becoming a practicing magus, buy this book, practice the rituals inside with regularity and you won't be sorry.