Inside a Magical Lodge: Group Ritual in the Western Tradition (Paperback)

by John Michael Greer (Author) "In legend and reality alike, the magical lodge has a central place in the occult traditions of the Western world..." (more)
Key Phrases: lodge governance, lodge designer, magical lodge, Golden Dawn, Grand Magister, Past Magister (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Inside a Magical Lodge by John Michael Greer reveals what has been hidden for centuries: the true secrets of what happens inside a magical or fraternal lodge. This revelation is obviously the work of a person who loves the lodge system and wants to see it continue. Some people involved in lodges have forgotten or ignored many of the symbolic and powerful aspects of the lodge. By revealing this information, the book saves and empowers lodges.

Inside a Magical Lodge does this without being focused on any one tradition. This adds to the value of the book because the information you learn here can be applied to any magical group, even if they are not following the lodge structure.

The book works on two levels. On the practical level it describes the layout of the lodge, including the responsibilities of the officers, the stations they occupy, and even how they should move during rituals. Greer even includes information on setting up your own lodge as a corporation.

On a spiritual level, the book includes information on building the group egregore, initiation, and rituals. In fact, the book includes fifteen rites for such things as invisibility, cleansing, sealing the aura, and more.

This book is a must for you if you are part of an order or are going to join one. If you want to create your own order you will find that this book has everything you need to know in order to take advantage of the lodge structure. Whatever your purpose is, get your copy today.


From the Publisher
Inside a Magical Lodge by John Michael Greer is the first book of its kind ó a comprehensive guide to the design, organization and operation of a magical lodge. It was written by a practicing magician with years of experience in lodge settings. This traditional lodge system offers a set of ritual skills that have been tested and polished through centuries of practice, providing a tool-kit of proven approaches that can be put to work in almost any type of magical group. So if you are part of a lodge, or thinking of starting your own, this book is a must!

Inside a Magical Lodge reveals all the secrets of magical lodges without breaking any vows of secrecy. This is accomplished by not focusing on any particular system. Instead, it looks at the underlying practices and benefits common to all lodges. This makes the information appropriate to all systems.

In these pages you will find information on the layout of the lodge, what the different officers of the lodge do, how they move during ritual, and even how to set up your own lodge. Numerous diagrams help make the text clear and easy to follow.

On a spiritual level you will discover how to fill out the symbolism based on the spiritual tradition you want to follow, along with the importance and impact of initiation. Fifteen rituals are included, including ones for purification and invisibility.

Even if you're not part of a lodge system, this book will provide new insights on how magical groups work. Get this book today.


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Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Llewellyn Publications; 1st edition (January 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 156718314X
• ISBN-13: 978-1567183146
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #710,989 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How To Form Western Esoteric Group, November 13, 2004

By	Brother MOLOCH 969 "MolochSorcery.com" (Cleveland, Ohio) - See all my reviews

Finally a decent book on forming a group in a modern, esoteric, manner. Prior to this book, there hasn't been much on the structuring of a formal magical lodge/order outside of a few Wiccan Circle types of books. The closest I've come across is the late William G. Gray's "Inner Temple Magic" and that had more to do with WHAT to do while in a magical order than it did about forming one.

Part of the problem with such books is that little is offered as guidance on dealing with the people within such a group. The group dynamics is usually overlooked so the seeker looking to gain some knowledge running a group and not just forming one is often left to his/her own devices on dealing with people. This makes for a blind leading the blind type of situation - at least emotionally - and usually what occurs is that the rest of the group is leaderless.

In the Satanic oriented groups, the leader is often encouraged to lead with an "iron fist" or "it's MY way or the highway" as pointed out by Rev. Yaj Nomolos in his book "The Magic Circle". Whereas in the Ritual & Ceremonial Magical traditions, the heavy handedness is not always conducive to a smooth running operation. Fortunately this book offers some simplistic thoughts on dealing with people within the lodge and mainly that is covered in Chapter 2.

What this book does offer is pretty solid material on WHY one should want to formulate a lodge and WHAT kind of structure the group should have.

The book starts out with pretty basic historical information on who the Freemasons were and why they came to be. This was based on the Medeival Guilds that were formed around trades and craftsmen. What follows next is the jump from the Freemasons to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and it's not like we haven't heard of that particular order before.

Greer also points out the foundation of what a Magical Lodge really is and offers to the interested party: structure, symbolism, magic and secrecy. In chatper 2, he nails it on the head when he writes "A magical lodge can take many forms and be many things. If it's going to function at all, though, there's at least one thing it has to be: a group of people who are able to put together the resources of space, time, and material needed for the lodge's work and who can do so with a minimum of bickering, confusion, and hurt feelings....A group that can't manage at least this much isn't going to likely to last long or get far." This fact has caused many lodges (and covens) to peter out long before they really could begin all over this very fact.

When we get thru the next three chapters on each of the foundations of symbolism, magic and secrecy, Greer has done a pretty decent job of offering more than mere platitudes in which to live by. He has explored very real concepts such as the group's egregore which helps to keep the nucleus of the group together. Then he tackles initiation and why this should be an important step to getting into a lodge. Finally he discusses the practical uses of secrecy and how this can benefit the group's continued focus as it progresses along.

The next part of the book covers the forming of a magical lodge. Greer uses a mythical group of personalities who opt to form their own lodge using alchemy as a framework. This is a useful teaching method and it allows Greer to give a better explanation of the various intricacies of sorting thru the mess of trying to form a core lodge group. He calls this group "The Order of the Athanor" and as we follow the formation of this group, we see some of the pitfalls and highpoints of forming and operating this group.

One of the pitfalls of lodges has always been the monetary dues contributions from its members. This is a sore point for many would-be lodge members because of their current financial situation which most deem financially strapped. Unfortunately, unless one has an ideal temple in their home, it takes the combined efforts of an entire group contributing money to rent a hall big enough to support a group. For example, if say you or I were to invest in building a comfortable working space such as an insulated and climate controlled pole barn, there is not only the initial cost of such a building and land to worry about but also the ongoing day-to-day maintenance to deal with. Utilities and upkeep usually are a drain on one person and without the group kicking in some sort of monetary support, the person in question will more than likely come to resent the fact that she or he has to foot the bill. And if one tries to keep meetings in their home, the same sort of thing eventually happens.

Greer also discusses some of the more esoteric rites that are available outside of just initiation and one of them is the working of Invisibility. This subject has been covered in Greer's prior work "Circles of Power". He takes this subject and lucidly explains the concept and how to do it sort of approach that many aspiring magicians drool to be able to accomplish.

All in all, this book is highly recommended with five stars because the author has chosen to tackle a very neglected subject and offers some very practical advice on forming a group. So much so that even Wiccans wishing to form a coven would be well to research from this book.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You wanna start a magickal lodge?, January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This book is excellent for starting a magickal lodge. I'm in a group of seven occultists and this book has offered so many suggestions to keep all of us honest. It explains the lodge structure and whtat it means, and then gives an example of starting a lodge, and then has a fictitious account of a lodge being created from scratch! Great book for establishing a lodge that will last a long time. No spells here, but information that's more important for group work. It's how to keep your group alive and not letting it fall apart.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great information, but bring salt., April 29, 2002

By	Erik L. Arneson (Medford, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Greer does a great service to the occult community with this book. Some of the best parts of this book deal with the drudgework and mundane aspects of lodge management -- creating the ritual, handling the legal aspects of creating a lodge, and maintaining the lodge on the administrative end. However, when he starts getting into the inner parts of lodgework, he tends to pass off his own personal (or his tradition's) theories and ideas as fact. It's a great deal of good information to ponder, but shouldn't necessarily be taken literally.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book to those interested in both occult and non-occult Fraternal-type orders.