Magic Golden Dawn System

Zealator Grade

Initiation into the earth grade. Becoming one with the gnomes. An attempt to contact ghob and calling the Angel Samael, Matatron, Sandalphon. All very interesting stuff.

For this journey GD Edition 7 would not work for me. It simply was not enough and neither was Self-Initation into the Golden Dawn Tradition by Cicero's.

I spent quality time re-reading the following:

What I wish to take from heart in this particular journey. As stated by the officers of Whare Ra "There is no substitute for practice". This lesson is revealed to me in the middle of my ritual. But my desire to push through after a year of research proved too strong.

The other thing I had a hard time taking into consideration is magnetic and radio interference as I practice ritual.

Finally purists of the GD should be flexible. There are plenty of written work and its wonderful take all of it into consideration. This is your journey.

The fusion of Elemental Tablets or Watchtowers leaves much to question. A lot can be argued here but if you make a mission to study this introduces the candidate to other traditions of Magic that stands by itself.

The candidate is introduced to more God-forms on the Tree of life, Enocian magic from pyramids to chess, talismanic work, and other forms of magic that will be blended into the other grades.

Both Crowley and Regardie were unimpressed with the elemental grades for various reasons not to be mentioned here. A lot of this has to do with Auric work which could potentialy be achieved through middle pillar exercses. But my thoughts are more or less along the lines of lazyness. Don't cop-out. Get out there and do the work. Its worth it.

Ceremony

Pillars get moved around, cross moves into the triangle, and you still follow the traditional 12 hours of fasting. A ritual bath should be conducted followed by 30 minute rest period in antechamber or dark room. Your guide for the ritual continues to be Maat.

templea templeb templec

When the ceremoney begins you will be guided around the circle multiple times in the process to consecreate the temple with water and fire and eventually end up in front of the Earth Elemental tablet. The candiate is actually consecrated with fire first then water. There is symbolism that should be researched.

The tablet will consists a grid of 13 up by 12 across squares with letters written upon it. The outer order would most likely have it written in english rather than enochian glyphs. Hard to say really. Should also be in flashing colors. The classic examles were very elaborate with pyramids painted in each square.

The ritual is a way to wake up the power of th earth. A representation of the forces of Earth and the hierarchies that go with it for the candidate. The tablet is coverd with cloth then exposed to the cadidat and the right time.

In a classic temple an astrological natal chart would be created with an election chart so that the officers can choose an appropriate time for ritual.

The a stream of light joins the tablet and the altar. In fact a lot more stuff takes place such as blue circles and astral light projected. All of this should be research because the history is vast.

Advancement

In each of these steps new things are learned and experienced.

Some temples have the candidate color the shewbread and seven branched candlestick in the appropriate colors. I feel the experience of drawing each symbol used adds additional value and aids in the joining of rauch of the candidate to the flashing tablet of shewbread.

A courtyard, a tabernacle and an offering in a laver of brass.

Temple Room Setup

Please keep in mind that the temple room is a portable setup on a tight budget. Not only that I needed to transport the materials out of state and find an empty room to set this up. I might have mentioned before that I live on a Sail Boat in California and its not the best place for a GD temple.

Although I am spending a great deal of time mastering the Element of water, perhaps not by choice.

Regardless this is a very rough setup and proof you can do this on a tight budget.

templec templec

Yes, if you look closely I had the wrong drawing when I put it together in haste. But I did manage to swap it out before ritual. I actually had to draw it in the next pictures that follow. Not only that I had to move the officers around:

templec templec templec templec

My experience putting this together proved very beneficial. Officer lamens were over looked and I spent the previous with markers putting them together, including the invisible stations. I looked at the temple diagrams over and over again to get this right. You just have to be prepared to move the stations during the ritual.

Ritual experience

I tried to do everything by candle light or lamp. But I also require reading glasses. Not that it should matter if I intend to memorize everything.

The reality proved to be too much. I just couldn't exactly remember each station by memory. Not only that I miscalculated the burn rate on incense and candles. I brought extra sticks for the ceremony knowing that. But its a hassel during ritual.

Air conditioning wasn't sufficient and I would heat up too fast in a small room. Keep in mind I'm wearing robes and nemyss and the room is filled with candles that generate heat.

When I forgot the ritual I would pick up the heavy book and strain my neck to read very closely because the room is dark. Sometimes I physically put the candle on the book to read clearly.

This is a situation you don't want to be in. Sometimes you don't want to read the book, because you either have to hold a cup or flame, or pass. You can't do all of that while cranning your neck to read.

My robes were too tight around the waist and too long. The pillars were too close and not enough space around the altar. This made circumabulation very difficult.

Regardless of all of this. I still enjoyed the experience. My mistakes are witnessed by spirit or divine presence or Shekhinah or whatever you want to call it.

Eventualy the ceremony ends, a closing is performed and the lecture begins.

Lecture

I preferred to read the lecture during cakes and ale. It's a masonic tradition that was borrowed from Shakespeare, which possibly originate from even earlier than that. Enjoy the pleasure of hard work.

The lecture should explain and help solidify the grade work experience. I also like to lean toward other sources such as 'Golden Dawn Commentaries as well' But you can also get a lot out of the 'Garden of Pomegranates'. Pathworking is extremely important and if possible you should read those passages and record it so that you can play them throughout your days.

Examination

Basic Astrology.

You will need to know the divisions, sun signs, and houses as well as the elements. Its not terribly difficult. I suggest splitting it in half, starting with the first house Aries. Once memorized then move to the top half of the wheel.

Remember its fire, earth, air, water, then repeat. Agular, succedent and cadent also repeats. After you get that down work on ruling planets, keywords and house summary.

This will all be easier if you work on your Natal chart and some of your family member charts.

Alchemy

I never thought I would ever need to study Alchemy. I'm glad I did to be honest I didn't think it would be useful. We are in the moddern age. But if you start digging into other books on magic. Its riddled with Alchemy and its a matter of trying to decipher what's needed. The book 777 could assist with this effort.

"In order to Girdle the grain, Gluten might be required and you will need caduceus to attenuate the blood of the red lion after fermentation you can begin magisterium."

When you run into passages like above you will be glad you completed Alchemy. I would also suggest first reading "The philosophers Stone", followed by "Gold - the lost book of Alchemy" both are from Regardie.

Elementals

You will need to know the elementals, names, traits, associations and deity names.

Tetragrammaton and Kerubim Next. Followed by Qabalah

Qabalah

I suggest you practice drawing the circle, and connecting the lines. Then work on meaning, traits, angel names, 4 worlds, Divine names, planets, intelligences etc...

Correspondences of Earth

Divination

Geomancy probably the most fun I had in a long long time. Also my go to from now on. For me Tarot is just another book to read with symbols I can add to ritual. I always found Tarot to be super frustrating and overly cumbersome. But geomancy was amazing. Please grab John Michael Greer's Book On divination and earth magic.

Ther are a few other things but they mostly pertain to the ritual and history, such as "shewbread" and 7 branched candle etc...

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