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Page 1 of 101929 · PDF PAGE 110
…t to London and discussed the matter with Jones, Baker and Mrs. Emery. Jones saw clearly enough that if Mathers were not the head of the Order and the trusted representative of the Secret Chiefs, there was no Order at all. Baker's position was that {193} 1. WEH Note: This portion is a development of the Hebrew text of the first verse of Genesis. Mathers was behaving badly; he was sick of the whole business. Mrs. Emery, the nominal representative of the Chief, was trying to find a diplomatic solution. Her attitude was most serious and earnest an…
1929 · PDF PAGE 97
…g". He suggested that I should join the Body of which he was an adept; known, to a few of the more enlightened seekers, ass the Hermetic Order of the G.·. D.·.. A short account of this Order is necessary. Most of the facts concerning it are given here and there in The Equinox; but the story is so lengthy and complex that it would require a volume to itself. Briefly, however, the facts are as follows: Some time in the 'seventies or 'eighties, a cipher manuscript was found on a bookstall by a Dr. Woodman, a colleague in magical study of Dr. W. Wy…
1929 · PDF PAGE 111
…aris, discussed the situation with Mathers and formulated the following proposal for dealing with the refractory "temple". I. The Second Order to be summoned at various times during two or three days. They to find, on being admitted one by one, a masked man in authority and a scribe. These questions, etc. pass, after pledge of secrecy concerning interview. A. Are you convinced of the truth of the doctrines and knowledge received in the grade of 5° = 6ř? Yes or No? If yes (1) Then their origin can spring from a pure source only? If no (2) I degr…
1929 · PDF PAGE 447
447 The plan promised excellently. The working expenses of the Order were almost negligibly small. We were therefore able to allow members to borrow in case of necessity up to the total amount of their fees and subscriptions; to give them a month's holiday for less than a week would have cost an outsider; to save them all medical, legal and similar expenses; to solve the problem of rent, and so on. We offered all the fabled advantages of socialism without in any way interfering with individual dignity and independence. I can hardly be blamed fo…
1929 · PDF PAGE 107
…untain Christ", "The Rosicrucian" and others, it is evident that my ambition was not to become superior to the rest of mankind except in order that I might redeem them. I quote: The Oath of the Beginning. I, Perdurabo, Frater Ordinis Roase Rubeae et Aureae Crucis, a Lord of the Paths in the Portal of the Vault of the Adepts, a 5° = 6ř of the Order of the Golden Dawn; and an humble servant of the Christ of God; do this day spiritually bind myself anew: By the Sword of Vengeance: By the Powers of the elements: By the Cross of Suffering: That I wi…
1929 · PDF PAGE 543
543 {856} "Don't hate the Germans," I urged. "Love them. Keep cool in order to help them in the only way possible; by smashing them up to teach them how to behave." He only grew worse. I warned him at last that such virulent hatred would end in this going mad. And my words came true. His character changed completely; he began to intrigue against me secretly and even to rob me, or rather the Order, outright. I cannot say how far he was abetted by the solicitors of the Order but they, no less than he, evaded rendering any account of the property …
1929 · PDF PAGE 528
…uilt, and he now identified himself with me through his own name being of equivalent value. There was however so far no link between the Order to which he belonged and the Great Order; 729 is not a significant number in the Cabbala of Thelema. But when I asked him to assign a mystic name to the Camel, he replied "Ahitha" which adds to 555, an obvious correlative with my own number in the Great Order, 666. It defined, so to speak, the function of the Camel in that Order. Striking as were these results, I maintained my sceptical method and procee…
1929 · PDF PAGE 347
…kling corridors of death! There was besides such creative work and the editorial work which Fuller and I had undertaken on behalf of the Order, the task of reconstituting it in its original purity. Under Mathers, the Grades had become meaningless; to be an adept had meant no more than to be a peer of the realm does in modern times. It was for me to sweep away all this nonsense, to re-establish the ordeals, in spirit and in truth. I was at first ignorant enough of Magick to imagine that this could be done by the simple process of replacing sham …
1929 · PDF PAGE 444
444 consecrate himself to the particular Great Work which he came to earth in order to perform. In the VII°, which is tripartite, he is first taught the principle of equilibrium as extended to all possible moral ideas; secondly, to all possible intellectual ideas; and lastly, he is shown how, basing all his actions on this impregnable rock of justice, he may so direct his life as to undertake his Great Work with the fullest responsibility and in absolute freedom from all possibility of interferences. In the VIII°, the secret is once more manife…
1929 · PDF PAGE 578
…standing of the subject which was almost enough to satisfy the requirements of the Grade 8° = 3ř. I admitted him as a probationer in the Order on the day of the solstice, and he took the name A V D. I advised him to repress any ambitions to pass quickly to higher Grades and to concentrate on thoroughness. With admirable good sense, he agreed. As evidence of his amazing genius for Magick, let me mention that I showed him a thesis which had been sent me by a member of the Order in support of his application for admission to the Grade 7° = 4ř, the…
1929 · PDF PAGE 98
98 I took the Order with absolute seriousness. I was not even put off by the fact of its ceremonies taking place at Mark Mason's Hall. I remember asking Baker whether people often died during the ceremony. I had no idea that it was a flat formality and that the members were for the most part muddled middle-class mediocrities. I saw myself entering the Hidden Church of the Holy Grail. This state of my soul served me well. My initiation was in fact a sacrament. The rituals have been printed in The Equinox, vol. I, Nos. II and III. There is no que…
1929 · PDF PAGE 501
…icrucian racket, merrily disdainful of criticism based on his elementary blunders in Latin and his total ignorance of the history of the Order which he claimed to rule. The old lady was simple- minded, sincere and earnest. I did not grudge the labour of trying to get her to use common sense, but as almost invariable in America, and heartbreakingly common even in Europe, the task was beyond my powers. {791} Just as extreme hunger makes a man shovel down anything that looks like food, so the ache of the soul for truth makes it swallow whatever pr…
1929 · PDF PAGE 583
…illar. They succeeded in climbing both, to my great joy. The morning after their arrival, I was summoned to the police, who showed me an order from the Minister of the Interior expelling me from Italy. No reason was given, no accusation made. The policy of backstairs intrigue and foul strokes, whenever they felt sure that I could not defend myself or hit back was still the order of the day. The commissary of Police was staggered by the smiling calm with which I received this stab in the back. I did not even protest or ask for the reason of the …
1929 · PDF PAGE 112
…ollowing year she was sentenced to seven years' penal servitude for outrages on young girls. She had in some way used the rituals of the Order which she had stolen from Mathers to entice them to their doom. My arrival in London as the envoy extraordinary and plenipotentiary of Mathers put the cat among the chickens. My identity was very soon discovered and a typhoon began to rage in the teacup. The rebels resorted to all sorts of lawless and violent acts, and spread the most stupidly scandalous stories, not only about me, but about the few othe…
1929 · PDF PAGE 99
… pint of view; but they insisted, rightly enough, that I was not in a position to judge the circumstances. I must first reach the Second Order. Accordingly, I took the grade of Zelator in December, of Theoricus in January and of Practicus in February. One could not proceed to Philosophus for three months, so I did not take that grade till May. The Philosophus cannot proceed to the Second Order in less than seven months; also he must be specially invited. In the spring of 1899, at some ceremony or other, I was aware of the presence of a tremendo…
1929 · PDF PAGE 442
…ts of the Holy Ghost and so on, in nine degrees, with a tenth of an honorary character to distinguish the "Supreme and Holy King" of the Order in each country where it was established. Chief of these kings is the O.H.O. (Outer Head of the Order, or Frater Superior), who is an absolute autocrat. This position was at this time occupied by Theodor Reuss, the Supreme and Holy King of Germany, who resigned the office in 1922 in my favour. The O.H.O. put the rituals of this Order at my disposal. I found them of the utmost value as to the central secr…
1929 · PDF PAGE 325
… not, however, wish to represent the Operation of Abra-Melin which I was now performing as a retrogression; but I had to undertake it in order to fulfil completely the formulae of adeptship. It was necessary to complete the work of he Second Order before I could adequately take up my work in the Third. Again, the mission, in order to carry out which I had incarnated, was a mission to mankind; and this must explain why, pari passu with my personal {529} progress, I walked continually in the way of the world. My spiritual life itself was now ther…
1929 · PDF PAGE 464
…e of moral unity is creating class conflict. The problems of politics are too vast and varied for even genius to grasp; the apparatus of order, both moral and physical, is showing signs of an imminent breakdown. The interests of the five principal sections of the country become more obviously incompatible. Any serious setback might cause disaster in a dozen different directions. They talk of the melting pot. The metaphor is not bad. For the last sixty years they have pitched into it indiscriminately everything that came along. They protest pass…
1929 · PDF PAGE 322
…nd it back with a charming compliment. This is the lesson of the Book of Job. I quote the entry in full, concealing only the name of the Order. At Kobe. A.'. fair only; though I invoked all these powers of mine. Yet after, by a strong effort of will, I banished my sore throat and my surroundings, and went up in my Body of Light. Reached a room in which a cruciform table was spread, a naked man being nailed thereto. Many venerable men sat around, feasting on his living flesh and quaffing his hot blood. These (I was told) were the adepts, whom I …
1929 · PDF PAGE 415
…throat cut across, his tongue torn out, and all the rest of it; the oath becomes a farce. In the A.'. A.'., which is a genuinely Magical Order, there are no extravagant oaths. The candidate is pledged quite simply to himself only, and his obligation binds him merely "to obtain the scientific knowledge of the nature and powers of my own being". There is no penalty attached to the breach of this resolution; yet, just as this resolution is in contrast with the oaths of other orders in respect of simplicity and naturalness, so also with regard to t…