Golden Dawn Interview With Samuel Scarborough

This interview will be the first in a series of dialogues with members of the Golden Dawn community. The goal of these will be to give those seeking or interested in this path an idea of what the Golden Dawn is truthfully. I hope that my readers will not only enjoy hearing about the experiences of Golden Dawn magicians, but will learn more about the true nature of the Great Work; its benefits, its pitfalls, and its magnificence.



Today I am presenting my interview with Samuel Scarborough. He is a contributing editor for the "Journal of Western Mystery Tradition" and also writes for the magazine "Hermetic Virtues". A senior member of the Ordo Stella Matutina, a modern Golden Dawn order that carries on the work of the original Stella Matutina, he currently resides in North Carolina. His esoteric interests lie in both practical and spiritual alchemy, tarot, astrology, Golden Dawn, Qabalah, ritual magick, and Hermetisim.


My personal experience with Sam is of a man who is not only kind and generous, but absolutely knowledgeable in his craft. Not only does he have a firm understanding of the Golden Dawn, but he also exudes its true nature in his attitude about life and in his correspondence with others. Unfortunately, this interview is only a small sample of what he has to offer the community but I hope you will enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed making his acquaintance. So, without further ado...



Golden Dawn Interview With Sam Scarborough


FSO: How would you describe spiritual growth in the GD system?


SS: Like the growth of a tree. Slow and steady. The seeds for spiritual growth are planted in the very first ritual work and studying the First Knowledge Lecture. It slowly grows as you do the Work and advance through the grades. Doing the Work and fully integrating the energies that are raised from the initiations and work nurtures that first seed in my opinion.


FSO: When you first began studying the Golden Dawn were there certain changes in personal growth that you expected to see? Where these accomplished? If so, how quickly after being initiated?


SS: There were changes that I expected to see, but in the beginning I was a bit naïve and had lots of preconceived ideas about what I should expect. I thought that I could summon wind, control the physical elements, and other things which were a bit “Hollywoodisms”. Eventually, I learned that those sorts of things were not what the Work was truly about. It was about balancing out those parts of yourself so that you are more balanced and can draw closer to your own Divine Nature. Once I got this through my head, I began to see that I needed to work on things like being lazy, or daydreaming too much, or a volatile temper.

Over time and with very hard, diligent work through the Outer Order Grades I slowly began to fully integrate the positive aspects of the various elements into myself, and began to overcome being lazy, daydreaming too much, etc.
I did wind up overcoming lots of those shortcomings once I had identified them, but have found that it is a continuing job to keep them up and deal with the new issues that arise from doing the Work within the Golden Dawn.

None of those negative traits of laziness, daydreaming, or temper just “magically” disappeared because I had been initiated – instead I had to work at overcoming them as they were brought to my conscious attention through the grade material and the energies of the initiations themselves. In fact, I find that I must constantly work on myself to improve, plus the longer that I do the Work the more new issues arise that have to be worked through and overcome. There has been no set time frame from initiation to overcoming a negative trait for me and I presume that it is a different time frame for each person that works through the Golden Dawn System.

FSO: LOL. Well outside of not being able to shoot fire balls have you had what can be described as “peak experiences” of consciousness while doing magic or as an effect of magic, for example unified consciousness, one-pointed awareness, out of body experiences, levitation, etc…if so could you please describe a meaningful one? Have you found these to be common within people who study magic and the Golden Dawn?


SS: When it comes to my personal Work I mostly adhere to the concept of Tacere – "to be Silent" – in relation to it, but I have had a couple experiences of heightened consciousness from performance of specific rituals and to some degree in acting as an officer for initiations.

One experience that I will share though came about when performing the Middle Pillar Exercise with a full "Circulation of the Body of Light". I had been performing the "Four-fold Breath" in preparation to performing the "Middle Pillar". I began the visualizations and appropriate vibrations (vibrating the Divine Name as many times as there are Hebrew letters in the Name). I went through the whole "Middle Pillar" and then began the "Circulation of the Body of Light".
During the final “fountain” portion of the "Circulation of the Body of Light" I had this experience of snapping away from my body through my Kether-Galgalim and rising above the shower of light towards that infinite point far above myself. It was exceedingly peaceful and very comfortable – almost as if I belonged there rather than in my own body. The moment seemed to last forever as I lost track of time and to some degree, of space. Luckily at some point I sat down or else I think I would have fallen down in my ritual space. In any event I finally returned to myself feeling more relaxed and calm (peaceful) and realized that an hour and a half had passed since I had started the Middle Pillar.

In my experience there are a lot of moments similar to what I described above. Everyone experiences something at some point in their Work, especially if they are diligent and sincere in what they are doing. I do not think mine is a common experience, but things similar occur for a sizable portion of those doing the Work to not be “uncommon” at least.


FSO: Are there any particular techniques in the system that you believe are absolutely necessary to master for personal and spiritual growth?


SS: The "Lesser Ritual of the Pentagram", meditation, and the "Middle Pillar" ritual are absolutely essential elements that need to be mastered for personal and spiritual growth. I am not talking about just blindly following the material and just performing these things, I am talking about in reality experiencing these rituals and meditations; making a genuine connection with the forces that are generated through the performance of these. Couple with these a full understanding what these basic rituals and meditations do, and you will be well on the way to mastering yourself and growing in a positive manner.

FSO: What types of personal changes should someone expect to see when learning the Golden Dawn tradition?

SS: This is something of a loaded question. In a lot of ways this sort of question can set up preconceived ideas of what to expect and when certain things should occur from working the Golden Dawn system. There are some things though that everyone who is looking at beginning to work in the Golden Dawn system should realize, and this is that there is a lot of hard work. Like anything else, the more you commit to doing the work and actually do the work as outlined, the bigger the rewards will be. Hopefully, through doing the various exercises and grade work, a person should balance out most (if not all) of those negative traits that they do not like about themselves. This takes serious, hard work to accomplish though. In addition, the energies generated from the initiations and the work will need to be fully integrated into yourself. Again, this takes hard work, but the Golden Dawn system provides a solid framework to accomplish this sort of thing.

FSO: It seems many mystical traditions throughout the world have similarities in mystical experiences, as well as ones that are primarily within their tradition…how would you describe the spiritual experience of the Golden Dawn?

SS: The spiritual experience for me within the Golden Dawn has been one of slow illumination and self examination. The symbol set that is used within the Golden Dawn helps to fully integrate the specific energies into the Self- this is especially true during the Elemental Grades in the Outer Order. The principle thing is that each of the Elemental Energies from the Outer Order Grades must be fully incorporated into a person’s sphere of sensation. Once they are incorporated, then the person must balance these forces out so as to achieve equilibrium. This process is rather alchemical in nature, particularly in the spiritual sense (that is through mediation and working with the diagrams and symbols related to a particular grade ) rather than from practical alchemical means (the use of a physical laboratory to produce results in flasks, etc.).

FSO: What have you found the biggest pitfall in the Great Work and what advice do you have to give about overcoming it?

SS: There are several big pitfalls in working towards the Great Work. Taking yourself too seriously is obviously one. The Great Work is serious business and the Work is hard, but that does not mean that you have to think of yourself as always right or not laugh at yourself when you make a mistake. And make a mistake we all do, since we are still human and prone to making them. Take the time to enjoy life and your mistakes. Laugh at yourself, especially when you start taking yourself too seriously. You are not the center of the universe and you are not yet god.

Ego is the other seriously big pitfall that plagues those that are striving towards the Great Work. To begin with a magician (a person doing the Great Work) needs a strong ego just to try to reunite with the Divine. The problem is that too many of us doing the Great Work have strong egos that are not balanced but which run rampant. Many people fall into this trap of being “right” or having such-and-such title or degree, or that because we have such-and-such degree, we obviously know more and thus must be correct.

My biggest advice is to try your best to maintain a healthy balanced ego. Learn how to moderate yourself and to examine all your words and actions to see if they are egotistical. Also, go get therapy from a professional therapist or psychologist. Things come up in the course of the Work that you may miss that may feed our egos or other aspects that we are working on through the grade material. It helps to have an unbiased professional to advise you through those trouble spots and to keep us grounded.

Another piece of advice is to work with a solid group of well grounded magicians – a local temple or Order that has members that are rooted in common sense.

FSO: Some people believe the Golden Dawn can be tailored to anyone, do you believe it is for everyone, or do you think it is really for the niche, ceremonial magician?

SS: I am something of an elitist. I believe that the Golden Dawn is not for everyone, anymore than Wicca or Witchcraft is for everyone. Certain people will be drawn to either a more ceremonial approach to magic and theurgy or they will be drawn to something else.
The Hermetic Tradition, which the Golden Dawn is certainly a modern manifestation really lends itself to those more interested in ceremonial magic and theurgy.

FSO: What do you think is the current state of the tradition? How would you describe the climate? Do you think that it is really just a lot of in-fighting as the Internet makes it seem, or do you think that the Internet does not represent what it really going on in the community as a whole?

SS: Personally, I think that the current state of the Golden Dawn tradition is one of growth. The overall system has grown tremendously in the last 120 years, and with various modern Orders putting their own spin on the traditional material, the system can only grow.

The Climate in the Golden Dawn Community is one of guarded work in my opinion. There are several serious Golden Dawn Orders around the world that communicate and get along, even share some material, but there are outside forces that constantly threaten the overall Golden Dawn Community. Many of these outside forces claim that they represent the Golden Dawn or the Golden Dawn Community as a whole, but they are really on the outside looking in trying to tear apart something they do not wholly comprehend. Because of these outsiders, the other serious groups are very cautious in their dealings with others within the Golden Dawn Community.

The apparent “in-fighting” that is routinely seen on the Internet does not accurately portray what is going on in the overall Golden Dawn Community. This “in-fighting” is brought on by a few bad apples, as it were, that do not represent the overall community, but they certainly tarnish the rest of the community by their words and actions.

The Internet is a great tool, especially for magicians to share information, talk, and network amongst themselves. It is this that is overshadowed by the bickering and “in-fighting” that is more often seen publicly. There is more communication behind the scenes than the average person really sees on the Internet. Various members from several Orders communicate and network sharing and just talking among them. This is not just the average member of an Order, but also senior Adepti and even the various Chiefs of the Orders communicating.

FSO: Is there anything that you personally would like to express to the community? Any advice, words of wisdom, anything that you have always thought it was important for people to know?

SS: The only advice I have is to be fraternal with each other. Sure we can disagree on various points of doing the work of the Golden Dawn System, but do so without becoming person in the debate. Remember that all of us had to start some where nothing was fully formed at the beginning in doing this Work.
Do the Work. Be diligent, be discriminating in your choices and actions, and take responsibility for your words and actions, but be fraternal to those whom are doing the Work in another Order within the Golden Dawn Tradition as well as those that are in your own Temple and Order, after all we are all doing similar grade work and striving towards the same goal in the Magnum Opus.
Try to live up to the Hermetic maxim of Scire, Velle, Audere, Tacere (To Know, To Will, To Dare, To Keep Silent).

The Golden Dawn Magician's Diet

Recently there was a post on the Golden Dawn World Wide Forum concerning the importance of diet in a magician's path. Since this is a topic that seems to come up on a fairly regular basis (especially since we in the U.S. are finally starting to get on the health-kick) I thought I would re-post my reply to the gentleman here. My comments are based on my years spent as a yoga teacher and how I melded it with the energies surrounding magic and the beliefs of Rosicrucianism.

It is an eternal debate within spiritual circles, how do we treat the body? Should it be ignored as and all our intention on the spiritual realm, should we keep it strong as a way to help us maintain focus on our studies and practices, is the answer somewhere in between, or does it really not matter at all? After having studied a wide breadth of spiritual traditions around the world, what I have found is that the answer to this question solely depends upon the tradition and the focus of its practices.

In Kabbalah we use the Tree of Life as the map of the universe and as our guide on how to return to the Divine. If we study the correspondences on the Tree of Life we will find that Malkuth is associated with the Gu'ph or physical body and the material world. However, it is also associated with the Shekinah aka the presence of God. Our physical bodies act as the temple which houses our consciousness as well as that which expresses the presence of God within us. Here she continually strives to be connected to her bridegroom the Spirit so that it can be manifested in the world. Therefore in the Kabbalistic tradition, the body takes on an important role, however due to our need to overcome the physical realm when astrally projecting, traveling in the spirit vision or in spiritual goal of not being attached to those things which are not of the spirit, it is essential in the path of a magician learns to take on a special attitude about the body. It cannot be overly exulted through vanity or gluttony nor overly emaciated through intense fasting.

Although intense fasting is this is a tool used in many traditions, it has limited use in the nature of magic. Whereas in the internal traditions (Buddhism, Vedanta, Sufism, etc.) , fasting is key in purification and in overcoming the desires of the body so that one's consciousness can be solely focused on in meditation, breathing techniques, and sense-withdrawal this does not work for the magician. Magic is expressive rather than internal and the magician must be strong enough to deal with banishing forces in the Temple, controlling and directing one's Will and other energetic forces so maintaining a balanced and strong constitution is key. Keeping your body clean from impurities helps the energy to flow more freely as it allows that which reflects the Light within to be less weighed down, but making sure to keep your body strong and vital will help with things such as long skrying sessions, healing work, banishing rituals... essentially any work the magician seeks to do, as one is raising and maintaining power.

In comparison, using fasting from time to time can help when you are doing astral work or engaging in a Vigil as in those instances overcoming the pull of the physical body becomes either needed or symbolic. As a magician it is your goal to find what works best for you as we are all our own expression of the Divine. Magic is an art, and after the rubrics have been learned and mastered it is that aspect of being an Art which denotes that you must now take these rubrics to express the Work properly within you. What works for some does not always work for others, and having a cookie-cutter diet or practice is more like training wheels for someone who is learning to become more adept at knowing their body or spirit. However, Here are some suggestions that might help you on your magical journey.

1. Keep a food diary- write down what you ate, the quantity, and how it made you feel afterwards, also right down your energy level. In magic, energy is currency...so try to pinpoint what foods give you the most energy and which make you feel weighed down, lethargic, or ill. I guarantee there are many foods which may not be compatible with your body, but which you may not realize since we pay so little attention to our body in this culture, eating in front of the t.v., while talking, or working on a project.

2. Experiment with foods for ritual. For example if you are working with Mars eat some red meat before hand, Mercury- fish, doing a Vigil-fast, Jupiter- fruits and nuts. Look up correspondences in magical manuals or commune with angelic beings to figure out what will empower your magic the most.

3. Combine your diet with exercise. Purifying your body by adding heat helps to clean out the deeper energy channels. Don't exercise to exhaustion, this actually depletes the body of energy reserves and nutrients (remember energy is our currency and must be protected)...exercise until you feel as if you've just pushed past what you feel comfortable with then stop,this will build your endurance slowly overtime. (yes, that may mean over-coming the ego and not training "as hard" as others) When you are done exercising you should feel energized not depleted. Trust me, I was training for a triathlon for awhile and going into the Temple after you have wasted yourself at the gym does you no good.

4. Oil massage- this is something that I learned while studying Ayurveda and I still practice it, it's called abyanga. Its not magical and its not a part of the Golden Dawn..but I love it. Get some organic sesame oil or olive oil, cure it by heating it to 212 degrees, let it cool, then store in a glass, not plastic container. Massage your body focusing on your hands, feet, and scalp (I massage my scalp without oil) then take a hot shower...the oil helps to flush toxins out of the body and calm the vata dosha (air) which I have found is often out of balance in magicians... plus its a super relaxing way to start the day! I only take about five minutes to do it..but I really focus on how it feels and visualize the energy channels opening and the toxins leaving my body.

I Heart the Golden Dawn!

Compared to my other blogs this one may seem a little bit more informal...the reason being that I would like to express something from my heart and my life experience rather than my intellect.

If one were to judge the Golden Dawn by the internet alone, really, who would join? Seemingly it is one negative comment after another.

But, I would like those people who read my blog to know that my experience of the Golden Dawn and the experience of many, many, other people is one of joy, growth, love, harmony, self-sacrifice, knowledge, gnosis, prosperity, and fulfillment. I am blessed everyday to be apart of this community, and the only time I ever experience negativity is when I get on the internet, and have to read blogs and posts about how someone is a fake, a cheat, or fill in the blank with some slander. Yes, I have witnessed and experienced the frailty of the human condition in this community and in every community I have ever been apart of... work, gym, church, meditation group, family, Golden Dawn, but how many people in this world have actually reached the status of an ascended Master ? Not many, but there are those who are striving for it every day, and I am lucky enough to see it....everyday! 98% of my Golden Dawn experience is amazing.

I am a proud member of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn. I have lived by two large Temples and now I teach at another blossoming one. Because I found the Golden Dawn I am excited to get out of bed every morning. I am excited about life, and I can't wait to share that with my students, teachers, friends, family, and people I meet on the street. Before I found the Golden Dawn I had gone through a variety of traditions seeking the right path for me. When I was finally initiated into the Golden Dawn I saw more positive changes in the time I went from being a Neophyte to a Zelator than in the year I had spent at the yoga ashram meditating 8 hrs a day. Hmmm..if this path doesn't work, and if the Order I am apart of is a farce...well that's one heck of a placebo effect.

I have found this to be a true path of the Light, and I am sorry for those who have to see all this scandelous trash that is being spewed all over the internet as its only representative. Not only am I enjoying the fruits of its teachings and technique, but so are my students, my brethern, and the people whose lives I have found I can touch through the growth I have experienced here.

I am always blessed to be provided with new stories about how effective and inspirational this path is. Right my favorite inspiration is a student I have who came to the EOGD a few months ago. When I first met him he was already a deeply spiritual person, having an intesive practice everyday. But, he had some issues that he just couldn't seem to get past...years ago, he was held hostage for five hours, shot, and then witnessed his abductor commit suicide. Now, I would be comfortable saying that this would be something that few people would be able to get past their entire life. I would also like to say that if anyone were to be able to do it, it would have been him in the state of elevated consciousness he was in when I met him. But, it was a barrier he just couldn't seem to break through and it took the magic of initiation and only two rituals that he learned in the Neophyte grade for him to finally overcome what he said was the worst experience of his entire life. Amazing. This Work is amazing, and when I see people's lives change dramatically everyday I am continually inspired to continue on in this Work.

Seriously, I don't know what other people are doing, but I'm having a great life and I love the Golden Dawn. I talk to a lot of people in and out of my Order everyday...and they are doing great too! According to our forums and the people who show up to our Power Week event, there are about 3000 people world-wide who are having a great Golden Dawn experience. I think most people who are in the Golden Dawn community are having a great time doing magic, being apart of Temples, learning, teaching, communing with Angels, healing. In fact, most people are probably having such a great time...getting on the internet to talk about is probably the last thing they think about. I'm saying that because I was blogging a few times a week at first and then realized I really missed all the magic I was doing. I would gander to say if someone is spending so much time spewing up crap for you to read and get discouraged about...they probably aren't spending enough time having a great time doing magic and leading a fullfilling life....I'm just saying ;)

Nosce te Ipsum

Protecting Your Path: Overcoming Spiritual Dissolutionment

Before I began studying the Golden Dawn system I spent many years studying the mystical practices of the world's religious traditions. Oftentimes, when I was particularly interested in a path I would join a corresponding group. From the time I was ten years old I knew my purpose was to become "enlightened" and so with each group and each tradition I strove very hard to immerse myself in it, to learn the techniques, be a good student, and to get to know the core people and teachers of the group. But for many years I kept running into the same disappointment over and over again. First, I would find the group and the teachings very enjoyable and inspirational. I would study night and day and begin to become closer and closer to the core people of each group. But to my dismay, as I drew closer to the group instead of finding people who were centered and enlightened as I had expected, I would find bickering, drama, rumors, and politics. After awhile with each group or organization I would become so disenchanted I would find myself leaving heart-broken and disgusted.


Most of this scenario did not change when I finally found the Golden Dawn, and for those of you who are familiar with it the politics and bickering within the community at large it can be quite a burden at times. However, as I began to feel the same sense of disenchantment wash over me as I witnessed the constant attacks on the Internet or watched the poor behavior of its "leaders" I finally realized something that caused me to break free from my break-ups.

It is not the path that is the problem. These spiritual paths are gold and have everything one needs to enjoy spiritual freedom. But, whenever we become disgusted with the way another person is behaving we are allowing them to become a blockade to our internal treasure. How many times have I heard or said "If this is how someone whose a Christian, Buddhist, Golden Dawner, _____ (fill in the blank with your preferred spiritual path) behaves then it obviously must not work. Ah, but it does...look at the many Masters that have gone before us who have completed the Path and finished The Work. How many people and problems did they have to overcome in order to make that happen? In order to master a path one has to complete the journey, and in order to do that we must free ourselves from the judgment of others and attachment to their behaviors. We can't change them, but we can keep ourselves from allowing them to ruin what we are working so hard for. This, I believe is one of the hardest tests I have seen any initiate overcome.

In a similar vein but on a different subject... something else I understand now that I did not when I was younger is that just because someone wears a sash, has earned a title, is an Adept, or is considered a great teacher does not mean that they as of yet have become perfected. In fact, especially in a mystical school, that individual may be going through harder internal trials then they had previously in their path as they seek to purify themselves on deeper and deeper levels. For those of you who are interested in Alchemy think of the difference between the calcination that one undergoes when creating a tincture vs The Torment of Metals that one endures when creating the Philosophers Stone...the latter being far more intense. The result is that this may cause people to behave in ways that seem unbecoming of their position as they are forced to deal with deeper issues. If this behavior is displayed in front of a younger brother or sister it may cause them to doubt the spiritual work that they have grown to love.



I believe that part of this problem lies in the willingness these days for teachers to be on more familiar terms with their students. It used to be common to keep a professional distance between teachers and students, or as we say in our Order to keep a "strict veil" between the Inner and Outer Order. This I believe to the detriment of spiritual traditions is not so common anymore. My first experience with this was when I was training at a kung-fu school. I remember really looking up to my Sifu (master) as an accomplished person, someone who had overcome great difficulty in order to master himself and his tradition. I studied at the school for about a year, and one night after class I was asked if I would like to go out and have dinner with a few of the members, which included the Sifu and two teachers. When we got to the restaurant they ordered a pitcher of beer. I was shocked, and then I thought, "Well there's nothing wrong with having a few beers". However, the more beers I saw my teachers drink the more uncomfortable I became, and I didn't quite understand why. I realized now that with every beer I watched them drink, my super-heroes...the ones I looked towards for absolute inspiration were becoming more and more human. After that dinner I began to hear about all the underlying drama of the school and it began to cloud everything for me as if I was living in a real-time soap opera. Eventually, I left because I had a hard time learning when I went there. The drills and forms lost meaning to me, and it was no longer a place where I could be inspired. Instead of seeing my Sifu or Older Kung-fu brother, I saw their problems, their drama.



Now, I do firmly believe that at some point all teachers must have that "fall from grace", but I have come to believe that this occurrence should happen later when a student has reached a level of spiritual development when they need to see that their Great Work rests on them alone. However in the beginning stages while groping in the darkness searching for the Light...they need a beacon. They need someone to guide them and show them the goodness of the Work, the fruits of it. By keeping a bit of a distance we allow them to have that "ornament" of the Order placed before them to guide and inspire. Now, some people disagree with me on this belief...they say "Screw it! Let them find out sooner rather than later...let the one's who are aren't strong enough weed themselves out". But, the formula is Isis-Apophis-Osiris. Everyone needs their Isis phase...its essential to their spiritual growth. Even St. John of the Cross discusses how at first a student must be enticed with the goodness of the Spirit, and then later taught how to stand on their own two spiritual feet, learning to do the Work of the Lord without attachment to feeling good or bad. Then, he is really doing the Work for he is not doing it for the feelings it brings but out of the pure love of his heart.



So for the students out there I suggest finding those people in your group who inspire you, and continue to let them inspire you. It may seem like a great idea to hang with the "in" crowd, but it may be to your own disillusionment for while there may be many who are at a point of peace there may be just as many who are undergoing difficult changes and may not be the role-model you deserve. Just because someone is a teacher does not mean their Great Work is finished.



On that note, as a student, should you come across a mentor or teacher at some point who has not behaved according to what you would have expected...try to be understanding. When one enters a position of mentorship many burdens are placed upon them, not only must they teach you, help run the school, do their own work, take care of their mundane responsibilities...but they must also deal with a higher level of internal development, a stronger fire, to push them past their imperfections. Please remember this never gives anyone an excuse to treat you poorly, or abuse you mentally, physically, spiritually, or emotionally as we sometimes hear in the "guru horror-stories". What I am saying is...use your common sense. Is this person behaving poorly because they are under a great amount of pressure, and their human frailties are coming through...or are they behaving totally inappropriately. If it is the latter...please speak to someone in your school so that it may be taken care of. But, don't let their behavior cause you to leave your Work...your path is between you and God. How terrible is it to fall off the path for another's transgressions?

For the teachers out there, consider your position and consider your role as a teacher...allow yourself the opportunity to be one who inspires others just as those who went before you inspired you to greater heights. Its fun to be friends with new students, but as we let down our guard remember they are still looking at us and placing under a microscope every decision we make, everything we say, and every attitude we have.

Fear is Failure: The Folly of Pride

During my spiritual practice I often spend time invoking higher beings (i.e. angels, seniors, etc..) that I may learn the deeper mysteries of nature not available in books. Of all the secret mysteries to be obtained there is one that is not so secret, yet so powerful that it is told to me again and again. "Remember to be humble".

Over the years the meaning of this has changed in my perception. For awhile it meant to remember not to place meaning into a situation that may not be there or assume that I knew the thoughts of others. After awhile it changed to be a reminder that I did not know the fullness of every situation, or the outcome of it, and after that it showed me that the Divine chooses mysterious ways to emit his grace into the world... ways in which I may not understand until after I have long passed away. In all of these situations my involvement in the Great Work was tested and constants changed. But, what has always remained a constant is the fact that just the act of pride in any form is a constant reminder of my own imperfection, an imperfection that could destroy my path, especially if I felt justified in it.

We all know the saying from Dune "Fear is the mind-killer". Isn't it true that Pride is based first and foremost in fear? Can you think of a situation where your prideful nature was inflamed that didn't have its fruit born from fear? It starts out as a situation that makes you uncomfortable, something you don't like... someone's behavior, or action, a deed done wrong. Don't we feel justified in judging another because we fear that if some good may come from the them or the situation, or the wrong-doing our view of the universe could be shattered?

Even if we know that there is not a black and white, don't we feel better if we can pretend like there is? That's really what we as humans fear the most; a world-view that is not stable to the degree that we desire. The more unstable it becomes the more we fear, the more we must attach to the self...thus pride rears its ugly head. As it states in the Neophyte initiation of the Golden Dawn"Fear is failure". Why? Because fear causes one to leave the spiritual path. When we tremble at the flames and floods and the shadows of the night, it is not usually because we saw a demon, but more likely that we let the trials of our progress, our spiritual alchemy, and the alchemy of others turn us away. It is because our sense of right is tested, and our beliefs sometimes shattered.

The fear that something good could come from something we don't like I think for many is too much to bear. But that is where true humility comes in. Light and Darkness bow down to the Lord of the Universe equally, all things must fall under his command.

So in all situations we must remember to adhear to our highest sense of right and to do the right thing, but let us not forget the demon Samael who seeks to use and twist righteousness and goodness to throw us off the path. He invokes spiritual pride within us to convince us to turn our back on the Great Work, he uses reason and goodness against itself. True humility leads to discrimination, loyalty to our vows, and a steadfastnes in the Work which leads us to stay and change the wrong around us rather than to abandon our path.If our world-view is shattered let us rejoice because now we have the room to replace it with what the Divine wishes us to see. We must remember that until we have become one with our Holy Guardian Angel that our perception is imperfect. Let us let the Divine be the one to perfect it, wether it be with a sledgehammer or the lightest of touches.

To learn more about the Golden Dawn visit
http://www.thoth-hermes.org/
http://www.esotericgoldendawn.org/

From Action to Being- The Stages of Self-Sacrifice

"For while he willingly puts himself under it, all the burden of tribulation is turned into confidence of divine comfort. And the more the flesh is wasted in affliction, the more the spirit is made strong by inward grace"- Kempis

The value of self-sacrifice; it's an oft talked about subject in the esoteric community, especially amongst alchemists and hermeticists. The notion of sacrificing the lower mundane material needs, the primal urges of the body and the ego so that one can rise to a higher, more spiritual state of grace and fulfillment sparks many debates. When one thinks about it, it is quite paradoxical. On one hand there is the notion that as a child of God, a spark of the Divine, one is worthy of consolation, fulfillment, and happiness even being blessed with having dominion over the land and animals of the earth. But at the same time, in order to have this in its truest form we must humble ourselves, thinking nothing of ourselves in order to rise up. This is difficult to not only imagine, but to practice.

We are so attached to our egos and lower natures that we immediately feel pain when we begin to withdraw from those things of which bring us comfort. Correspondingly the ego reacts beginning to question the point of pain and suffering...God is abundance why should we not live and enjoy this abundance? But here again is the paradox discussed in almost every major mystery and religious tradition, "to humble oneself is to be exalted", "the meek will inherit the earth."

We can look at this philosophically and easily see that in order to be truly one with God the Divine from the perspective of the direct knowledge of our consciousness we must overcome the small self (the Ruach, Nephesh, and Guf) so that we can transcend into the Unity consciousness of the big Self. But how does this translate into our practice and experience as spiritual people and magicians?

On its grossest level it begins with an understanding of its importance and a trust that self-sacrifice will bring us the fruits we seek. It is hard when we are young in the Work and so addicted to the world around us not to doubt its effectiveness and essential rightness as all we have ever known to be right has come in the security of things in our environment. But we seek now to move from beyond the security of eat, sleep, clothe, love, to a security of the spirit and in fact we will see as we travel along in our path that unhappiness comes from these terrestrial things as they are always transient and never lasting. Just like a jilted lover we endlessly seek to fill a hole when we see permanence in the impermanent nature of the lower plane. This is of course why we yearn for spiritual things, because our true nature is permanence and until we know it we always feel something is missing.

The next step is that of the rote habit of learning self-sacrifice. Anything that we can be successful in comes from doing it over and over again. At this stage in our development self-sacrifice is no exception, especially during the first stages when it is an action that must be taken rather than a state of consciousness (we will discuss this shortly). Not only does this require of us to physically give of ourselves, but to create a mental state within of being undeserving of the gifts we receive. It is usually not the former that causes great difficulty, but that latter notion amongst initiates. The problem does not come in the fact that we are or are not 'deserving' of a good life...our Father and Mother in heaven deeply desire for us to have absolute happiness. The problem comes in nurturing the belief that we are, because once we believe that we are, our egos become inflamed, and we deepen our attachment to those things which are fleeting and false. "Set yourself always in the lowest place and the highest shall be given to you, for the highest cannot stand without the lowest".


Now, during this time of habit-forming, one may begin to experience a sweet nectar, a small fruit of internal peace at times when renouncing the self. We have all experienced this while doing a "good deed" for someone. And although this is needed to feed us so that we may carry on when the tempest of our egos take hold, it is not the whole fruit that we are seeking. The reason I say this is that you will notice you are still functioning on a level of receiving. For example, when we go to the store and buy something that catches our eye, we relish in the feeling of receiving something pleasurable. The same thing applies here, we use self-sacrifice as a means to gain a pleasurable feeling, we may not realize it at first, but when being young in the work this is almost always the case, and when this is taken away many a spiritual student fall from the path. In "The Dark Night of the Soul this is referred to as God feeding one a mothers milk to help nourish him in the Work. But, at some point this must be taken away so that the young child of the spirit can learn to feed himself and walk on his own...the next step then is to overcome this attachment and this is when a real change in consciousness begins to take shape.

At this point you will begin to experience a shift in consciousness and will start to see the true nature of the material world. The things from which you previously sought comfort you will now see as empty for its transient nature. Why place your hope and trust in things which do not last. It is there for a short time and then we are off seeking to find it or something else to fill the space? Now you are beginning to find a disappointment in material things, yet a growing state of internal peace and happiness. Overcoming the material for the spiritual then begins to take over as the true priority, and this is when you will notice an influx of magical and spiritual powers because the essence of the true Self is descending upon its throne. The burden of tribulation is "turning into confidence of divine comfort" the mere act of thinking less of yourself, and doing more for your brother, or for God becomes a living life-force within rather than a mere trinket of pleasure. It becomes an essence feeding you, energizing you, fulfilling you...and its beyond measure; "and the more the flesh is wasted in affliction, the more the spirit is made strong by inward grace". Thus, now you have reached a point where self-sacrifice is not an act, but a state of consciousness, and when we read texts which speak of humbling the body, the mind, and the heart we will no longer feel repulsion or fear at the words, but hope, excitement and joy. Here you will find and endless fountain of grace, and you will know that your total connection with the Divine is just around the corner.

To experience true Grace in your life preform this exercise:

Pray daily that any spiritual gifts (or magical powers) you may be blessed to receive will instead go to another, perhaps a brother or sister in need, a cause, or a healing. Ask yourself if you are willing to sacrifice all your efforts in the Great Work so that the fruits you may attain can be given to another....

Morning Prayers

Just so my reader's don't think I've been spending my summer days lazing around here is a poem from a book of magic that I have been translating from French to English...

A Morning Prayer I

O my good and Divine Lady
Whose tears cause my soul to cry
Who are you looking for?
- I am seaching for my little child.
-He is on the cross, Poor Mother!

And his blood flows upon the earth
Like a seed that will flower into the
Happiest day, Easter.

Thus, the red fruit you will give
You a crown
These palms poured out into
Stars will shine

-Sweet Mary, Poor Mother,
Your son is no longer on the earth
-Where is he? He is in the sky
And now comes to us on an alter.

God the Father is also my father,
The Virgin Mary is also my mother
St. Peter is my godfather
St. John my eldest cousin

That's what I delight in most
My parents who are in the heavens

II
I hear an alluring voice
The beautiful Lady is calling
Calling from among the lillies
The flowering lillies of pardise

Winter passes over the earth
The spring returns me to my mother
And I see Easter Bloom
When God tells me to die

I hear an alluring voice
The beautiful Lady is calling
Calling from among the lillies
The blooming lillies of paradise