The Truth About the Golden Dawn & A Few Dangerous Megalomaniacs
A MUST READ By: Robert Zink
The entire Golden Dawn tradition is under attack from one or two individuals who represent themselves as Golden Dawn who have effectively eliminated Outer Order teaching, preferring instead to teach Inner Order material to the Outer regardless of the new students, training or experience. They claim to have created all new Inner Order material; this is a complete deviation from the original teaching handed down through Mathers in the Z documents and the Cipher manuscripts. It is difficult to imagine what staggering arrogance or megalomania, would be required to so irresponsibly expose sincere students of the mysteries to such potentially harmful energies; it is anybody’s guess what sort of current this Inner Order generates, but it is not congruent with the original Golden Dawn current. In addition, these people are easy to identify as they claim to have superior lineage to the Order of 100 years ago, yet they cannot prove it and in fact they have been disproved as fraudulent. Furthermore, the Outer Order curriculum as taught through Mathers is specifically designed to allow the candidate to become conditioned to safely and productively manage the potentially difficult energies involved in Second Order work. Without the proper Outer Order training, a student could easily cause severe damage to themselves and others; sadly, these megalomaniacs are not concerned about the spiritual or magical health of the student on the pathway of LIGHT. Turning students loose with Inner Order material without proper training and conditioning is nothing less than negligent and indicates a complete lack of concern toward the well being of those whom have given their trust. (We suggest reading Chic and Tabitha Cicero’s book: “The Essential Golden Dawn”; we highly recommend downloading a paper called “Cornerstone of the Golden Dawn”.)

Additionally, there are those who have resigned or been expelled from Golden Dawn orders that seek to form their own orders. This would be intrinsically problematic since it is contradictory for someone who has repudiated the solemn oath they made to their former order to subsequently require members to make such an oath to the new order they have formed. A magical circle demands a great deal of trust and someone who has demonstrated the inability to maintain a sacred oath is hardly someone with whom a sincere student of the mysteries would wish to form a trust-based relationship. Furthermore, those fitting this description often have an ax to grind with their former mentors; they even tend to form groups and alliances dedicated to tearing others down. The Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn is dedicated to bringing Light into the world; this involves healing, teaching and promoting peace. A group founded by an oath breaker and preoccupied with creating chaos and tearing others down have no harmony with Light and inherently contradicts any claim to the Golden Dawn name.

Some have tailored the Golden Dawn grade material and have invoked specific current for the soul purpose of advancing their private and political agenda; this is in no way congruent with classic Golden Dawn teaching as handed down through Mathers in the Z documents and the Cipher manuscripts. The traditional Golden Dawn system is designed to invoke Light, peace and healing into the lives of the individuals practicing these teachings and into the world at large. There are those who are now prominent in the occult community that personally adhere to a hateful political philosophy similar to the Nazism of Adolph Hitler, and they seek to discredit other Golden Dawn orders through the use of lies, rumors and innuendos, while at the same time promoting false realities about there own order.

The serious student in search of their true spiritual path must learn how to wade through the oath breakers, phonies, hucksters, megalomaniacs and political hate-mongers in order to discover what their higher genius has in store for them. You need to be able to distinguish the Truth from mere lies, slander and propaganda to choose a spiritual path that is right for you. The intention of your magical practice will determine the end result of your completed work. When building anything, the end result should be the first factor considered; for example: when you build a house you first draw up an architectural design and then work from it. Working from a clear and well thought out design is your only hope of building what you really want. In our magical work, we first want to build on a foundation of Truth. So, our first intention should be to find out what Truth really is.

The question of Truth is old; the ancient Egyptians personified Truth in the god form Maat, who was depicted holding a pair of scales; this denotes that Truth can be verified through measuring. The god form Maat is revisited in the symbol used by the United States judicial system: a blindfolded woman holding a pair of scales. In both representations, Truth is sought through balance and measuring. The Greeks sought Truth through mathematics, the scales being algebraic equations wherein Truth is found when the equation is balanced; Thoth, among other things is a god of mathematics and the spoken word, including magical incantations, and he speaks only Truth. So, balance and reason have long been considered vital tools for determining Truth; therefore we will try to apply reason and balance to all magical concepts in order to determine if they will build the house of Truth and personal power that we want in our lives.

One of the first principles of Truth that should be considered has been echoed throughout the ages in various spiritual systems: “you reap what you sow.” This is a simple formula easily understood by ancient people from a more rural era: a farmer wanting to eat bread knows that he must begin with wheat seeds. Any other seed will leave him without hope of having wheat bread. He further knows that he must diligently work his field tending to whatever needs arise from watering, pulling weeds to fighting insect infestation; this means commitment. Sowing involves a solid commitment depending on the expected harvest time; a farmer cannot quit before the harvest or the crops will fail and the hope of harvest will go unfulfilled. Also, the harvest itself must be planned well; if the harvest is not worked quickly and thoroughly that is to say if all of the produce is not fully processed, then the harvest will not yield its potential. This often involves a great deal of work and the farmer may need assistance from others to achieve the volume of work needed in the required time frame for full yield. So the concept “you reap what you sow” is a rather deep and involved principle that bears meditation, and it is one of the first principles of foundational truths for any magical or spiritual path.

In terms of our magical path, we wish to grow an internal crop; that is to say, we wish to awaken certain internal traits within ourselves in order to manifest desired results in our lives. We must first decide what specifically we wish to manifest before determining the internal work we must do in order to achieve the desired results. This is not unlike planting the correct seeds to achieve a given harvest. A farmer knows which seeds to plant judging by what they have produced in the past; if he wants wheat, he would not extract and plant seeds from corn and vice versa, so in our magical work we must begin sowing from a perspective of sound spiritual principles in order to manifest healing, peace and Light in our selves and in the world around us. A spiritual path is a commitment requiring time and energy, not unlike the commitment involved with growing a crop: a farmer will commit time, energy and resources hoping to grow food after investing everything he and his family have and if there is a bad harvest he could lose it all, including the land. This level of commitment demands absolute certainty of the results one can expect from such an investment. You invest your heart and soul into a spiritual path and you must be absolutely sure that you will yield the desired results. The Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn is a proven, reliable path. The Truth is when you wish to reap mastery over the Elements in your life you must sow along the proven path; you must be sure that you are taught the proper magical teachings.

We believe in keeping with the original teachings of Mathers, who outlined specific teachings handed down to him from the German Rosicrucian order in the Cipher manuscripts and the Z documents. Those who have followed these teachings closely have enjoyed the positive results expected, and this has not failed. However, this path is not easy and it requires work and commitment to see the expected results. Even as the farmer who plants a specific seed is sure, that if he works hard; he will grow that, which he has planted; we are sure any who honestly and diligently work this path as handed down through Mathers, will yield the promised results. This is the first and foremost Truth, proven by balance and reason: choose a safe, proven and reliable path; one that has not been recreated and designed in the image of any one individual or group of individuals and subsequently rendered unproven, unreliable and possibly even unsafe.

Another Truth, which will sound slightly more modern, is: “no pain, no gain”, which is to say, that nothing truly worth having comes without sacrifice. This applies to getting an education, getting into good physical shape, establishing a successful career and making spiritual progress. Each one of these pursuits demands, time, money and energy, so when someone offers spiritual advancement in any system and either expresses or implies that it will be easy, is selling something. There are some who offer mystical teaching; there are even some who represent themselves as Golden Dawn, who offer easy grade advancement for a fee; they will even promise “unpublished” material that no one else has, which you could purchase that will change your life. The problem is as it always will be that if something seems too good to be true, that is because it is too good to be true. The fact is that no one can offer an easy spiritual path any more than anyone can offer a way to lose weight without exercise or diet; those whom offer this will simply take your money and teach you not to trust anyone like them again. This is not to say that a Golden Dawn school should never ask for dues or other reasonable fees to keep their temples operating; this is simply saying that if someone is offering special grade material or advancements for a fee, guard your wallet, because they want your money.

The grade material as handed down through Mathers is not really a secret and has not been for a long time. The real secret is the unblemished current generated by those honestly and diligently doing the deep internal work taught in this system. Teaching this system is not a matter of handing out grade material, although that is certainly a small part; teaching this system is raising the energy through initiation and other Second Order work, which empowers the Outer Order to make changes and yield results. This cannot be sold for those preoccupied with money cannot possibly raise and direct the Rosicrucian current, which circulates throughout the Outer Order. Any money collected from the true Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn will be no more than necessary to keep the temples functioning and often less than that. This is because true Rosicrucians have a duty to pass on the Light once having received it, and this Light cannot be sold; it must be passed freely to those willing to receive it.

Another sacred Truth is that: “the Light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehendeth it not”; this is illustrated by the simple fact that wherever light is created, darkness yields. With this Truth in mind you must demand from any group with, which you become affiliated that they be occupied in healing, teaching and promoting peace; wherever these activities are the main focus, the Light shines in the darkness and both work in harmony to forward the Great Work. Leaders who waste time and energy attacking the leadership of other groups in order to perpetuate their own Order or personal agenda and devote precious resources toward frivolous legal battles should be considered highly suspect to those wishing to travel on the Pathway of Light. These activities are not the focus of oath breakers or those arrogant and irresponsible enough to render harmful material to their students. The current produced by workers of chaos and those focused on tearing down those whom peacefully promote Light and healing is harmful and cannot possibly yield positive results in your life. It is the sincere desire of the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn that you find the magical path that will yield healing, Light, peace and personal power in your life.