The Mysteries of the Golden Dawn - Protected
If you know the name, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, then you are likely familiar with the fact that this used to be a secret order. In fact, the group, originally created in 1887 and founded by (Samuel Liddel) MacGregor Mathers, William Wynn Westcott, and William Robert Woodman, was a highly secretive group. They remained this way, even as they grew beyond their singular location , and those that did break their vows by going public were shunned.
Ya... Well, this guy didn't care. He just went off and broke their seals and made his own thing... Not that it mattered...
YOLO!!!!!
(Sidenote: I feel like #YOLOOTO should be a thing.... and since the mind is all, AND I have no self-control atm.... it is indeed a thing now!)
Your're WELCOME
Yep, it was all a game for him. A fantastic game of self-mastery and all that. Really, I think actually Crowley gets a bad rap. Sure, he broke his vows, but it also sounds like they were all being dicks to him. That being said, he seemed to shun MacGregor Mathers in the later years. That always seemed kind of rude, considering it sounds like he did what he could do to help. But.... maybe I am missing something.
Also, truth be told... he wasn't the only one to break his vows. Others did and they did it for money and who knows what else. I think I am going to look into this deeper. It has been a while since I have. In any case, I digress....
Moving on....
Why All the Secrets?
In the modern era of digital everything and an overabundance of information, it can seem unfathomable why a group would try to hide all of their knowledge. Historically speaking, when an organization is hiding things, then bad things are happening. That is the world that we are used to.
Well, the Golden Dawn came from a different era. Consider that secret societies have been a thing nearly as long as man has been making societies. I was going to grab a bit more information here and cite some sources but then when I asked my Google Nest about secret societies... I was told that she didn't know anything about that. She also could not tell me what the oldest known secret society was or even list some of the more famous secret societies. I finally gave up and asked about who the current reigning overlord reptilian supreme is.
Nope, no answer there as well.
I think it's a conspiracy...
She does know about fraternal orders. She at least and gave the definition. But, try for yourself, just fun... it took a while before I got anything. I couldn't get the answers for the actual facts I wanted, so... I guess, yeah, I guess that you'll just have to trust me.
Back to the Point of the Matter...
The Golden Dawn was all super secret squirrel status for a long time. I found them in the 90s because a small paper dropped out of a pagan book I bought at Barnes and Noble on my lunch one day. It was this little slip with an eye on it and some information. It was all cryptic and whatnot. I ended up meeting up with people and well, let's just say I am a fan of the order and the teachings.
As time went on, I got married, had a kid, and then basically lived life broke as one will do when they are a struggling parent trying to stay afloat in pricey Orange County, Ca. Basically, I couldn't afford to keep going - both with dues and the time required.
Secretive Golden Dawn Was Expensive
I thought it was worth it and frankly, I still do. As I moved around the western United States, I never found a local order to try to attend and over time I just figured that I had reached the end of where I was supposed to go. Then, the technological ara hit and things changed.
Um.... there the books sat one day.
They are just listed, as they have been for years now.
I looked at them and, yep.
I don't know. I am conflicted. I have vows, but this appears to be posted by a Frater.
I don't want to teach this, I don't know it well enough to do so. So, I sat on it for a long while, and tehn simply placed it on our learning group - and then waited to see if there was any interest.
Feel free to check it out here. Link to Hydrophant!
It took TWO FREAKING YEARS but it happened, I had a couple people ask about it. I had said that because of my vows I was conflicted and would wait until I had other people who wanted to study the work and then I would just join in. It would be like a study group. No charge, no anything special. However, I did require there to be enough people and they had to be solidly committed or at least seem to be. So.... yep. Things... they are changing.
Is Secrecy Needed Anymore?
I understood... or so I thought... but I don't even know if it is possible like it once was. I mean, it seems like the occultists have just given up. The Hermetic Library! has the Neophyte ritual and plenty of other teachings that once were considered to be too much knowledge for the general pubic. I like to think, that things are as they are supposed to be... as they always are. However, it feels weird. I don't know if I like it.... but I am going to make the best of it.
Stay Tuned for More Updates
In the light of throwing secrecy to the wind, I am going to update here about developments in my practice. It's all part of a bigger social experiment... I guess we will see how this plays out.