The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Copyright © 2006 By Frater Osmani Rodriguez Mage/ Michael Scott McDaniel
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has many points that concern us. Let us begin at the threshhold of the mysteries, the grotto in the Blue Lodge, where we find Yahkin and Boaz. In the grade of Practicus 3=8 we find the diagram of the Garden of Eden before the fall and here we see depicted the pillar of Boaz as black and the pillar of Yahkin as white let us disabuse ourselves of this notion by quoting the venerable Albert Pike, "Eliphas Levi (Alphonse Louis Constant) says that of the two columns, Yakayn and Baaz one was white and the other black I find no proof of that anywhere." The Golden Dawn not only perpetuates this nonsense but further confounds the mysteries by moving the pillars haphazardly about the Temple when it is clear that they should be situated at the door, for the aspirant himself represents the middle pillar so the pillars need not be moved. Boaz the pillar of severity is on the left and Yahkin the pillar of mercy is on the right. The Golden Dawn would have us believe that Boaz is the Pillar of cloud and Yahkin the Pillar of fire but this can be demonstrated to be quite the contrary Yahkin which is composed of the Sephirothic colors of Grey, Blue, and Green is the pillar of cloud while Boaz which is comprised of the Sephirothic colors of Black, Red, and Orange is of course the pillar of fire. The Golden Dawn in the Grade of the Neophyte or 0=0 has the aspirant swear an oath over the Cross and Triangle with his or her right hand which is to exemplify that Kamael the Angel of Geburah, or whom most Dogmatic Rabbinical Qabbalists say is not Kamael but actually Samael or the Poison of God, * has bore witness to the oath fortunatly for the aspirant the right hand and the right side of the body correspond to a Chesedic nature and not a Geburic one. On the evil nature of Geburah let us here quote from from Rabbi Aryeh Kapplans commentary on the Bahir page 110, " The Sephirah of Gevurah- Strength is therefore seen as the source of evil. The North is associated with evil in many places. It is said to be "open", since the existence of evil opens the door for free will." Every Mystic knows that the Northern quarter is the abode of all ignorance and evil, remember what is said to us as we stand in the north-east corner betwixt the Qlippothic darkness of the North and the light or LXX in the East. Indeed it is the duty of every Mystic to travel ever eastward turning thier back on Tohu and Bohu, chaos and desolation. The Golden Dawn and the placement of their three principle officers deviates from the Blue Lodge and the placement of their three principle officers. In the Blue Lodge they are placed in the East, South, and West leaving the North open. The Golden Dawn on the otherhand places these same officers in a straight line East to West thus losing the notion of the North being the source of all evil. If we look once more at the Blue Lodge scheme of placing them in the East, South, and West we will see that this creates the Hebrew letter Beth which itself is open from the North. We will elaborate further on the letter Beth, by quoting from Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh's The Hebrew Letters Channels of Creative Consciousness, The Bet is composed of three connected Vavs resembling a square, yet open on the left side. From the perspective of Tora, the top line of the square faces east, the right side faces south and the bottom side faces west. The open side faces north. Before leaving the subject of Geburah and Chesed we would like to draw your attention to the elemental attributions of the Angel Mikael to fire and the Angel Gabriel to water. We must once more refer to Rabbi Ginsburgh on this subject, " Mikael, the Angel of water and Gabriel, the Angel of fire, do not extinguish one another." And according to the Zohar Mikael sheds a tear for every soul of humanity from Shammayim, heaven, for the iniquities of mankind. To drive home this arguement, in the Bahir translated by Kaplan it further states, " Strength, Geburah, is the officer of all holy forms to the left of the blessed holy one he is Gabriel. The officer of all his all his holy forins to his right is Mikael. In the middle is truth. This is Uriel, the officer of all the holy forms in the center." The Golden Dawn would have done well to use these three Angels in the Grade of Zelator or 1=10 instead of the farce which has the Angel Metatron, the Archangel of Keter, situated at the pillar of mercy. They had only to consult their own knowledge lecture to see the dichotomy inherent in this scheme. Metatron is rightly placed in Keter in all his glory as that mysterious figure that the Zohar calls Na'ar the lad, who is depicted as a mighty and terrible Angel clothed in sixty whips of fire, and holds six-hundred and thirteen exalted keys which hang from the point of his sword. All these minor points of contension put aside let us now move to the greatest part of our arguement which is the fallacy of placing the Hebrew letters upon the Tree in alphabetical order. The Sepher Yetzirah clearly states that the horizontals are attributed to the three elements, the verticles to the seven planets, and the diagonals to the Zodiac. This of course wreaks havoc with the path working as practiced by the Golden Dawn. We strongly suggest the student familiarize him or herself with the Ari Tree. The Golden Dawn not only deviated from this scheme of horizontals, virticles, and diagonals but further confounded the matter by misappropriating the planetary attributions. The Hexagram or Magen David, as it is known to the Hebrews, is not a Solar symbol but a Lunar one. The Magen David is nothing other than what the Sepher Yetzirah refers to as the six directions in infinitismal space and time. Each of the six points of the Hexagrarn represent the six variant permutations of the three simple letters Yod, Heh, and Vav. Of which the Diety chose to seal the six fathomless directions in space. The Hexagrarn represents the structure as it relates to man, being the symbol of a five pointed star placed in the center of a six sided cube, with twelve lines of one dimension, and eight vertices. The eight points of the three dimensional cube correspond to the quaternal point that defines a one dimensional line. It is interesting that the numbers 8,12,and 6 (which define the cube of space) have a numerical value of 26, the number of YHVH. The position of the permutations of YHV applied to each point of the Hexagram. are the seven planets of our solar system which are the seven pillars of creation. Having their own respective double letters assigned to each point with their various light proportions affected by their relationship with the letter Vav which represents the cosmic nail of light which supports the cube of space. For Vav is the nail that holds the cosmic Tabernacle in place. This is the unity of the two letters Yod and Heh or Chokmah and Binah. The Vav symbolizes the connection between Da'at and Tiphareth. In the Zohar( cf. 3:120 B) Da'at is called the " Key that contains the six". This key or Magen David is the Vav, within the Aleph, present during the expansion and contraction of space known as the Tzimzum. This is where Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh contracts and expands to form a single thread of light in a never ceasing thought, from which a marked point or axis emanates. The Aleph and the Vav within exemplify the first eternal Ruach from which endless beams of light give life eternally. This beam the uninanifest duality within the primordial self is known as the divine spark called the principle of creation. The letter Aleph is composed of three letters which are two yods separated by a Vav, when added together have a value of twenty-six (YHVH). These Yods reflect two forrns of light, one downwards and the other upwards, through the Vav eternally as aions. These are variances of transendant light from the upper Yod of the Aleph and the immanent light from the lower Yod. The first Yod represents Chokmah, the paternal logos, which emanates at the second Sephira from the divine brilliance of the crown, Keter. The lower Yod repesents the Sephirah Hod which expounds the manifested paternal word of the Logos reverberating in the lower worlds of Yetzirah and Assiah. Therefore the first light surrounds all worlds and the latter fills them. The letter Vav is the external light of the Hexagrain and the regent of the middle pillar or Ruach Ha Meshiach. If one follows and comprehends the Sepher Yetzirah they will see that the Golden Dawn's interpretation of the Hexagram as a Solar symbol is totally incorrect. The seven planets and their Tarot attributions are way off. There is no excuse and no place for such mediocre scholarship on the part of the Golden Dawn in the current era when the availability of Hebraic source texts is at their fingertips. The proper Planetary attributions for thr Hexagram are as follows: Beth is Saturn and the Tarot card The World, Gimel is Jupiter and The Wheel of Fortune, Dalet is Mars and the Tower, Kaph is the Sun and its Card is the Sun, Peh is Venus and the Empress, Resh is Mercury and the Magician. Now one will ask oneself where is the Moon? Well it is the letter Tav and its card is the High Priestess and it is concealed as a great secret within the center of the Hexagram. The High Priestess is the keeper and bestower of the Rites of the true and invisible Theurgistic Order of the Star. That woman clothed with the Moon with the Sun beneath her feet and the crown of twelve stars upon her head. Let it also be remembered that the Hebrews are a Lunar cult, follow the Lunar calendar, and their God Yah is a Lunar Deity. Having completed the gist of our paper we would be remissed if we did not address a statement concerning The Third Degree of Freemasonry, " The Third Degree of Freemasonry, known as the Master Mason Degree unlike other examples Regardie mentions here, does not include resurrection as part of the ritual or teaching." ( Regardie's Tree of Life page 347 footnote 5) If one cannot see the resurrection of Yeheshua Ha Meshlach in the raising of Hiram Abif then their knowledge of Freemasonry is indeed in a sad state of repair. Not only is the Third Degree of Freemasonry equivalent to the Grade of Adeptus Minor or 5=6 but it is far superior to it in it's regard to exemplifing the Rite of the Dying God. In the 5=6 the aspirant happens upon the dead body of Frater C:.R:.C:. who has not been slain maliciously like Osirus by Set, Jesus by the Church state and Mob, and Hiram Abif by the three ruffians. Not only does the Third Degree portray the Rites of Osir-us but it also portrays the rites of Isis and Horns during the search for Hiram Abif and the subsequent slaying of the three ruffians. The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite elaborates on the Rites of Harpocrates and Horus in the degress of Secret Master, The Elu of Nine, and The Elu of Fifteen. In the Elu of Nine and the Elu of Fifteen we encounter a severed head motif with all of it's John the Baptist, Baphorriet, and Grail associations. The Dagger, which is the primary weapon of the revenge Degrees, is also central to the Templar Degree of Knights Qadosh. This paper was not written with the purpose of being derogatory for we both love, honor, and respect the founders of the Golden Dawn yet we believe that their teachings are in dire need of serious examination in the light of higher Dogmatic Qabbalah which is available today but not in their era. "Igne Natura Renovatur Integra
Copyright © 2006 By Frater Osmani Rodriguez Mage/ Michael Scott McDaniel
