Customer Reviews

Qabalah - The Complete Golden Dawn Initiate

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Not the usual regurgitation of Regardie influences. A genuine exploration of the extra curriculum and essential source material involved in Golden Dawn practice. The author has the benefit of membership of the Fraternity of the Sanctum Regnum - an Order of the Cubic Stone derivative group - in addition to being the publisher of ex Cubic Stone Chief David Edwards' Dare to Make Magic'. Includes Planetary & Zodiacal invocations, a thorough exploration of the astrological use of the Angels of the Shemhamphorash & a rare Rosicrucian treatise on the Qabalistic role of Shaitan (translated from a rare Sufi text). No study of Golden Dawn material is complete without access to the rare material presented here, culled from Order of the Cubic Stone & FSR archives.

Below I have appended some words from the author of this work relating to certain issues which will be of interest to readers, and prospective readers, of the Complete Golden dawn Initiate.

In The Complete Golden Dawn Initiate I have chosen to present material such as the practical Shemhamphorash (describing how the Angels held to watch over certain aspects of the Self can be identified by the zodiacal positioning of certain planets) alongside 20th century initiatives inspired by the Order of the Cubic Stone and the Fraternity of the Sanctum Regnum. To counterpoint the latter, I have reprinted key works from the Zohar tradition that provided the foundation stone upon which the whole Golden Dawn representation of the philosophic Qabalah depend. Also, I have included a work from the early second millenium from the Islamic tradition, which I feel has great bearing upon the subtleties of the Rosicrucian school which influenced the spiritual technology of the Golden Dawn. Despite my association with a number of teachers who received their initiatory push from former members of the Stella Matutina, linked thereby to the later surviving original Golden Dawn lodges, I make no claims that readers should suppose my authority depends upon this serendipity. Instead, I have endeavoured to supply a supplementary body of information that might be appreciated by lone students (or those working in small groups) who see the virtue of distilling the essence of GD lore as revealed in group initiation rites down to what might be practicable in the light of our evolved understanding of the principles at work therein.

I think the problem with the small minority of people who express dissatisfaction with this work lies in a phenomenon called Group Think (widely commented upon on the www).

The GD tradition is alive and well in the UK and select places around the world ... these places being the site of practice of individuals and small groups working independently of any supposed traceable lineage depending upon GD antecedents. Of those groups claiming some sort of authenticity on the basis of lineage, what is often overlooked is (in my humble opinion) that the validity of the work pursued by these groups is limited (in an 8 of Swords style restriction) by the participants having to remain bound to the original praxis ... daring not to step beyond the perception of a historical orthodoxy: a phenomenon that has put the brakes on such trains of discipline as Science and Medicine throughout their respective development.

Fromj Wikipedia: "Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. During groupthink, members of the group avoid promoting viewpoints outside the comfort zone of consensus thinking".

When this limiting philosophy is applied outside the comfort zone of the group, hostile and destructive actions and propoganda are often manifest.

Now, many of those who imagine that their participation in contemporary commercial business enterprises masquerading as GD temples might be undermined by the appearance of voices not sanctioned by 'group think' fail to see that the horizons of their thinking are limited ... even primitive. Thus, we get the kind of hostility referred to above .... a kind of petulance often seen to be exhibited by those whose thinking is limited in capacity when challenged by experience. It is the reaction of the emotional idiot.

Time and time again, we see 100 year old material represented, re-explained with no evolution of sophistication that might be expected of any student who is keen to develop their master's work. In the field of the physical sciences, there are usually great revolutionary discoveries every 25 years or so. In the past 25 years, this has not been the case. In the area of philosophical Qabalah & the Hermetics of the

Golden Dawn 'system' this seems to have been the case for some 50 years or so. It would seem that group think has quite a grip on contemporary culture. No one dare stand outside the envelope .. and the few that do have to skip lightly to avoid the public stoning.

A friend of mine wrote: "Somebody ought to write about the class issues at work with all this stuff goes all the way back to the GD a bunch of bourgeois well-offs recreationally playing at magick, and everybody since playing at being like them."

This seems to be the prevailing attitude in so many GD interest groups and also amongst the Crowleyan tomfoolery clubs of which the great master would be truly ashamed

This book contains classical Golden Dawn as it relates to Qabalah, the zodiac and other source documents of the originators. The presentation is in a relation to modern times containing origional methods.

I'm not quite sure why this book is called the "Golden Dawn Initiate' unless it was intended to widen its appeal. Half of it is taken up with the authors take on the 'Qabalah of Fifty Gates' which was peripheral to the core GD curriculum. The rest is some very interesting commentary on some Qabalistic classics and some less interesting rituals.
That said the authors riff on the Qabalah is excellent effortlessly weaving sufic and thelemite sources into a coherent whole.
I would have given this four stars except it is let down by its typesetting which looks like it was done on microsoft word or similar

This is a good book, with classical Qabalistic documents, a few classic GD documents as well, some comenting the "basic" rituals. The first part can cause good insights about the Sephirot and that alone would be a good reading.

Sadly, this book was badly edited and revised. There are some bad mistakes that a good reading could have found. A serious reader will notice them, but anyone giving a quick read will not. The worse happens when it comes to the notes on the Qabalistic classics and the number refering to its notes. The tables on the appendix were taken from some internet like HTML source, and one of them has a broken image.

Editors, pay atention and be more careful on the next printing.

Other than that I'd give 5 stars for compiling good stuff on a single book.

Beautifully produced hardcover book. Too bad there was nothing inside worth printing (or reprinting as the case may be). Happily Amazon does offer refunds. Stick to Regardie. Even the Cicero books are better than this.