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ANONYMOUS BLOGGERS UNMASKED
Many of you who are following blog are already aware that there is an all-out witch hunt raging against the brothers and sisters of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha Omega, which greatly intensified when we reacted strongly and passionately to Nick Farrell's latest published attack on the Alpha Omega (past and present) disguised as a scholarly work on history.
During the past months we have witnessed reconstructionist bloggers attack the integrity of our Order as well as mischaracterise our right to defend our order's reputation as "attacking" our attackers or as "flame war." During this internet Witch Hunt, the first round we witnessed a reconstructionist mob employ fear mongering tactics. We have witnessed them revising the actual facts of our history, and do everything possible to misrepresent our Secret Chiefs, our initiatory system and nearly every single aspect of our order.
Throughout this intense persecution, we have seen well known reconstructionist representatives behaving like Witch Hunt inquisitors, such as Deanna Bonds, Olen Rush, Morgan Drake Eckstein, and Joseph Max behaving more like a lynch mob posse than like Golden Dawn initiates.
Soon, the Witch Hunt passed the baton to Yahoo and its foremost reconstructionist forum, that of Pat Zalewski, attacking our Order's (and my personal) view on God-Forms and that small part of the Alpha Omega 6^0=5^0 ritual which recently was profaned by another reconstructionist author. In tandem with this new host of attacks on that recon-forum the Witch Hunt have re-mobilized their old tactics of using anonymous and libelous blogs, mocking our Order and its Chiefs and spreading vileful lies about us. One such anonymous blog was created just a couple of months ago with the clear intent of mocking our Order and its Chief, and our Manifesto, as well as interpolating libelous misrepresentations.
An equally mocking Facebook account was simultaneously created by the blog creator using the same mis-impersonation identity, with the expressed objective to promote the defamatory "anonymous" blog, being promoted by and thus indirectly leading to the professed recon-disciple of Mr. Zalewski, Morgan Drake Eckstein, who has become one of the most rabid characters in this witch hunt posse. This also is a smoking gun leading directly back to the other party in the trademark settlement agreement, who has been warned by the court numerous times in the past not to use such "back doors" to its agreement not to further libel our order.
A couple of weeks ago, yet another "anonymous" blog was create by someone calling himself "Eric V. Sisco", presenting himself as an "an Adeptus Exemptus in the SRICF". "S.R.I.C.F." is a abbreviation of "Soceitas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis", the officially recognised American body of the British "Soceitas Rosicruciana in Anglia" (S.R.I.A.), both constituting a male only Trinitarian Christian and exoteric version or debasement of "Rosicrucianism". Two other organisations have unofficial ties to the S.R.I.A. and S.R.I.C.F., namely the "Soceitas Rosicruciana in America "(also abbreviated as S.R.I.A.) and the equally Trinitarian Christian "Order of the Rose Cross" (O.R+C). Although the latter two organisations allow women into their membership I still refer to all four organisations, which all stem from the British S.R.I.A., as "WASP supremacists" ("WASP" as in "White Anglo-Saxon Protestants"). That the WASP-label is quite apt to these pseudo-Rosicrucian bodies is easily discerned from an original manifesto with a highly anti-Semite content issued by the O.R+C:"We believe that the Anglo-Saxon and associated Indo-European cultures are the spiritual and literal descendants of these 'lost ten tribes of Israel,' representing God's chosen people as mentioned in the Old Testament."On The Golden Dawn Blog it has also been proven beyond any doubt that the exotericism of these WASP organisations have started to infest the esoteric freedom of the Golden Dawn community, placing itself as its "Third Order," i.e. effectively replacing the Supernals of the essentially Pagan Primordial Tradition with the temporal and exoteric Trinitarian Protestant tradition. Interestingly enough "Sisco", the author of the newly created anonymous blog attacking the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, also has confessed to be a member of the Golden Dawn organisation which constitutes the other party of the Trademark Settlement Agreement. As it happens, the Chiefs of that Golden Dawn organisation are also senior Officers and co-founders of the O.R+C, one of them being the Supreme Maga of the S.R.I.America and profaner of the Alpha Omega 6^0=5^0 ritual and the other a senior member of the S.R.I.Anglia. Even more interestingly "Sisco" has advertised his attack blog on Pat Zalewski's forum and that of the other party of the Trademark Settlement Agreement. This ties yet another "anonymous" attack blog directly back to the other party of the trademark agreement, who are also founders and Grand Officers of the "Christians only" OR+C.
Thus this proves beyond any doubt that the forces behind the flame war, or rather witch hunting inquisition, against the Alpha Omega, which primarily is using anonymous blogs, can be traced back to the S.R.I.A., the OR+C, the SRICF, AS WELL AS DIRECTLY TO THE OTHER PARTY OF THE TRADEMARK SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT. Therefore the following words quoted from the latter organisation's web page are nothing less than completely hypocritical, when it describes itself as bieng: "deeply and thoroughly opposed to any and all Internet flame wars, slander, anonymous libels, harassment, disparagement, malicious gossip, and other unfortunate manifestations of wasted time and qlippothic energy".As this anonymous blog is also linked to the SRIA America through its Supreme Maga (co-founder and Grand Officer of the anti-Pagan and anti-Semitic "Order of the Rose and Cross") her words on the SRIA America blog ring equally filled with deceit and hypocricy, when she writes:"No flame-wars or disparaging of others will ever be tolerated or posted here."Now, if you have been following my own blog (Gyllene Gryningen) for the last years or so, you know my personal position on anonymous defamation blogs. If you remember all the way back to 2009 I had an encounter with an anonymous blog troll calling himself "Tommy" who had set up a libelous defamation blog against the Alpha Omega. If you still remember this encounter somewhat, I also tried to engage with him in a fraternal and scholarly manner, to no avail. He wasn't at all interested in any reasoned debate; he simply wanted me to further his propaganda and talking points. So I made everyone aware of my mistake and soon that blog was removed. My conclusion from that learning experience was:
DON'T FEED THE "ANONYMOUS" TROLLS!
Anonymous Blog Troll
This is also my recommendation to all serious initiates of the Golden Dawn community, reconstructionist and traditionalist alike. Don't give them any air to breath their venom unto the communty. It affects us all equally bad, regardless if we have a reconstructionist or traditionalist perspective on our beloved Golden Dawn tradition. It is the lowiest possible weapon to use in a political war; there is no excuse to resort to this kind of behaviour. And neither is it the mark of a Rosicrucian.
BY G.H. FRATER S.R.
New Age marketer, Robert Zink today wrote on his EOGD blog:"The mystical community was shocked when a recent attempt to prove that astral initiation is not valid failed on another blog...I think a more productive path of the HOGD/AO would simply be to offer astral initiation. They are already providing the grade materials in a vending machine style format. This is significantly different from The Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn, which provides complete astral initiation to people who cannot travel to a local temple."Despite Bob Zink's misrepresentation, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega, and our outer order the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, obviously have never been handing out grades like a vending machine. In fact, our curriculum is the most demanding of any Golden Dawn order, since, unlike other Golden Dawn orders, our members learn and practice the entire original R.R. et A. C. magick already our outer order, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. I personally believe that the HOGD/AO is the best and most thorough school of ritual magic that exists in the world today.
The HOGD/AO remains firmly committed to peace and harmony in the Golden Dawn community. Therefore, regardless how many old misrepresentations and attacks on our order Bob republishes, he is going to have wage his "one man flame war" all by himself. This does not mean, however, that our order will not at least refute Bob's attacks. As Bob continues to recycle old misrepresentations, we will simply recycle old refutations as well.
Let us, therefore, examine what Golden Dawn scholars have said about the New Age initiation Bob Zink invented to replace traditional Golden Dawn initiation, that Bob calls "astral" or "long distance" initiation. Scholars have repeatedly challenged Rob Zink to engage in meaningful debate and to back up his wild claims about New Age "astral" initiation. Instead, he merely repeats his talking points over and over, "slick ad" style, like a late night "Million Dollar Bob" infomercial.
In a nutshell, Bob Zink claims that, for a mere 200, he can wave his magic wand and, "Poof!," make you a "full Golden Dawn initiate" from the comfort of your living room arm chair.
In an old article, "Invoke Logic to Understand the Truth about Astral Initiation, Bob Zink again set forth his whole gamut of talking points and wierd claims about "astral" initiation. Let us review how Bob's claims have been refuted by respected scholars from across the entire spectrum the Golden Dawn community.
Bob Zink wrote:"There is no record of [MacGregor Mathers] traveling to Germany to receive initiation from the continental adepts! He was either self-initiated because there were no continental adepts of the Rose Cross, or He was Astral Initiated...... MacGregor Mathers and Monia Mathers... initiated ASTRAL INITIATION in the United States shortly before MacGregor death and Monia Mathers carried it out for many years."Robert Zink has been challenged, over and over, to provide even a single shred of historical evidence to support these weird assertions. Golden Dawn scholar, Samuel Scarborough, however, writes:"I think of myself as something of a scholar on the GD as well as a serious student of the GD system. The same can be said for Nick Farrell or Imhotep, or several others that say that these astral initiations are not verifiable, nor were they done in the original Golden Dawn or Alpha Omega or Stella Matutina after the 1903 Schism in the regular sense. There is no evidence for "astral" or long-distance initiation from those orginal bodies. I disagree with certain groups that claim that these astral (long-distance) initiations were commonplace within the original Golden Dawn. I have never seen any evidence to support such a claim. Nor can I think that Westcott, Woodman, and Mathers received some astral initiation as founders of the GD in the first place either."Noted magical author, Nick Farrell (Chief Adept of the Magical Order of Aurora Aurorae), writes:"If astral initiation was used within the Golden Dawn there would be some evidence of it... If an astral initiation was taking place then where and when and why did it not leave a trace of paperwork? There are no records of astral initiations being performed, nor any members who are identified as being part of the Golden Dawn who had their initiations astrally recorded. Nor is there any mention of the procedure being used in the various editions of by-laws, nor any diary notes from anyone saying that they had taken part in an astral initiation. While we have access to many different GD rituals, there are no recorded instructions for how to perform one."Next, Robert Zink writes:"If Long Distant Healing works then the same logic applies to long distant initiation. Our early brethren of the Rose and Cross-often did healing and there is nothing written that it was only in person. There astral abilities were often directed at the whole world, or areas of conflict or sickness. If Healing can be done long distant, then so can initiation...... it would be ridiculous to believe that the same Order that teaches magic that can affect time and space in astonishing ways, teaches that initiation must be done within a small confined space or a rented Masonic lodge? This is not very logical."Contrary to Mr. Zink's straw man argument, no one has ever disputed that Golden Dawn initiation has an astral component. What all true initiates understand and that Mr. Zink fails to grasp, however, is that the astral body is rooted in the physical body. In true Golden Dawn initiation, the astral body is affected by a transfer of energies from the physical body of the Hierophant to the physical body initiate physically present in the same room. To suggest that this can be accomplished "from the comfort of your arm chair, watching television on the other end of the world" is a scam pure and simple. Let us review what other Golden Dawn scholars have said about this matter.
On Nick Farell's blog, Polimetis wrote:"Nick. You know how EOGD always argues that and Initiation is not Theatre and is all about the astral (forgetting, as you say, the importance of basic psycological and emotional impact!)? Well, actually, ancient Drama copmes directly from the Dyonisian and Eleusinian Mysteries, and Tragic Festivals continued to a sacred ceremony and a sacred experience for the Athenians, which is, actually comparable to intiation ceremonies (especially masonic high degrees where only a few of the candidates participate, and most are just onlookers!). I bet no one in ancient Greece could say that if the director mentions the name of an Athenian citizen that was out of town, before the perfomance of a Tragedy, would 'astrally" experience the awe and pity that the tragedy inspired, and the psycologically healthy Catharthic effect of actually seeing the sacred perfomance!"Next, Robert Zink writes:"Not everyone is near a physical Temple nor can afford the cost of attending a physical Temple. Should these people be excluded from the Light of Initiation into the Sacred Miseries?"Regarding Robert Zink's claim that "Astral" Initiation helps those who would otherwise not be able to contact the spirit of the order, Nick Farrell responds:"So finally we come to (the) point... that (Astral initiation allegedly) provides a person with a connection to a working group that they would not otherwise had. This is clearly true, but in my opinion any link would appear to be administrative rather than spiritual. A real initiation takes place when the person is ready."Robert Zink continues:"The cost of 5 initiations before one can be invited into the Inner Order is outrageous for someone on a budget. The average round trip air fare is about 500.00 the cost of Hotels will bring this up to about 800.00 and then there may be the cost of a rental car, add another 200.00 Plus food. So each trip to a temple will cost about 1000.00 or more."This is grossly inflated and deliberately misleading. In the HOGD/AO, we allow initiates to complete their grade work one grade at a time, and if necessary for financial reasons, to make only one trip to a physical temple location to receive all of their grade initiations at once prior to admission into the Second Order. Robert Zink knows this.
Then why is Robert Zink is desperately trying to convince you that his New Age "Astral" initiation is as good as the real McCoy? Because he wants to line his pockets with your money!
Clearly, Bob Zink shares the belief that P.T. Barnum once proclaimed: "There's a sucker born every minute!"
Sure "Astral Initiation" works - And this is my new Star Fleet uniform!
Donald Michael Kraig recently wrote:
"Recently there have been a spate of attacks on Regardie's book as being incomplete or not "the real stuff" leading to new books and claims by individuals to have received new information from the Secret Chiefs...In my opinion, these claims and counterclaims all miss the point. Real magick is not about some new secret ritual, an alternate correspondence on the Tree of Life or a variation on a well-known ritual that changes a word or two. Real magick is about what you do with what you have. And with Regardie's book, you have a lifetime of training and learning and practice...I've known some people who have tried to figure out the Golden Dawn and its techniques and given up in disgust, saying it was too complicated (complex, yes, but once you understand the complexities it's not complicated at all). Alternatively I've known people who say that it's too simple, but who have never ventured into the third or fourth volumes. I've also known people who have literally reversed important aspects of the rituals, knew they were doing this, but claimed they were doing Golden Dawn work. And, as mentioned above, others claim what's there isn't enough and are "receiving" new, more advanced information. I imagine some of these people will attack me for what I've posted here, and that's okay."(For the benefit of the uninformed reader, Donald Michael Kraig is well known in the Golden Dawn community as an initiate of a Regardie-based Golden Dawn order founded in Georgia by an OTO member/Lewellyn author in the early 1980's. Kraig's Golden Dawn statements frequently so closely resemble the positions of this order that Kraig often appears its de facto spokesperson.)
Care Frater Don,
Who is it exactly that has been "attacking" Israel Regardie's book? Is it, in your opinion, not possible for our two orders to disagree on fundamental philosophical points about the Golden Dawn, without the need to resort to calling philosophical disagreements "attacks"?
Personally, I fully embrace diversity in our Golden Dawn community and view both philosophical disagreement and scholarly debate as not only positive but as actually helping the Golden Dawn tradition to continue to grow and evolve. As brothers from different Golden Dawn orders, can we not agree to disagree without feeling attacked or wagging fingers at one another making wild accusations?
Has the time not come to leave behind old wounds for the good of the Golden Dawn community? - instead of merely not mentioning names while continuing to make sniping remarks?
Moving on to more important matters, I fully agree with you that Israel Regardie's Golden Dawn compendium is one of the most important books ever published. (I personally believe, however, that the Golden Dawn would have been better off today, had Regardie not broken his vows by publishing this material though).
You are correct that Regardie's Golden Dawn compendium contains so much magical material that normal people will never be able to fully master it. The book itself is certainly not incomplete. It accurately reflects the Golden Dawn as it was developed in 1888.
The fact, however, nonetheless remains that the Golden Dawn as it was then developed remained a truncated and incomplete system. The Golden Dawn was never intended to end at the relatively low, (5=6) Adeptus Minor level. The grade system is based on that of the Gold and Rosy Cross Order of 1777 Germany. You are well aware that the grades of the Second Order (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus were never fully developed by S.L. MacGregor Mathers. Whether you agree with this or not, the reason for this is that Mathers was cut off from his source - as the Secret Chiefs were not at all pleased with what he had done with the 5=6 material.
The net result of this is that there are a great many Golden Dawn Adepts today who were initiated into Adeptus Minor (5=6) long ago. Many of these are the best and the brightest among us in the Golden Dawn community. These Adepts have mastered the published Regardie material (that ends at this minor grade) long ago.
Some of these Adepts have even been initiated into Adeptus Major (6=5). But what did they find there? In most Golden Dawn orders, they either nothing at all - or merely something that their local leaders concocted themselves.
Should these Adepts - the best and the brightest among us - really remain forever stifled in their initiatic progress at Adeptus Minor?
I do not think so - and neither do the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega. This is why they have finally released the material for Adeptus Major and Adeptus Exemptus that they had originally intended to release through Mathers until he botched the Adeptus Minor.
These materials complete the magical developments that begin with 5=6. I have given one example already of how this is the case in my previous blog, regarding the magical squares deriving from Agrippa and how they are still cyphered as included in the (5=6) Adeptus Minor material of the Golden Dawn. The entire original system is now fully revealed in the (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega.
As I mentioned earlier, I believe diversity is a very good thing in the Golden Dawn community. If someone is looking for the personal ideas of Pat Zalewski, his order provides a valuable contribution to our community. If someone is looking for a personality cult centered around Israel Regardie, they can also find that in our Golden Dawn community too. The great news, however, is that if Adepts are looking for traditional Golden Dawn training that completes what they started learning in the (5=6) Adeptus Minor grade, the Alpha Omega is now making this material available to our Golden Dawn community for the first time in history as well.
I must admit that I am a bit surprised at how much venom has been aroused by this joyous new, however. Judging from all of the buzz on the internet, especially on certain Yahoo fora, one would think that the old Golden Dawn flame war had reared its ugly head again.
Rest assured that the A.O. is not trying to lord anything over anyone. We are actually performing a valuable service to the entire Golden Dawn community by making this advanced material available to all of the brightest and best among us - assuming that they can fulfill the same traditional requirements that have been in place since 1888 - and are willing once and for all to keep vows of initiatic secrecy inviolate.
One thing that has surprised me in this entire discussion has been that so many Golden Dawn leaders have come out saying that they do not believe that MacGregor Mathers really met in person with the Secret Chiefs in Paris in 1891 as Mathers himself plainly stated. These individuals are in for a big surprise in years to come, since the advanced teachings are very real and will ultimately be verified by Adepts from a cross section of the entire Golden Dawn community.
Meanwhile, the even the radical reconstructionist Golden Dawn faction is already finding it more and more difficult, in light of serious new academic research, to dismiss Mathers own statements regarding his physical meeting with the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order in Paris in 1891. The cynics and the sceptics in the Golden Dawn community apparently have not read the latest academic research on the subject. I quote from page 159, "William Blake e William Butler Yeats, by Arianna Antonielli (2009: BILIOTECA DI STUDI DI FILOLOGIA MODERNA - Library of Studies in Modern Philology, Florence University Press, p. 159):"Nel 1891, Mathers viene chiamato a Parigi da un emissario dei misteriosi Capi Segreti del terzo ordine, a lui noto soltanto come Frater Lux E Tenebris. Guardiano delle tradizioni misteriche dei Sumeri, dei Caldei e degli Egiziani, Frater Lux E Tenebris deposita nelle mani di Mathers le chiavi per accedere a quella sapienza antica e segreta. Una volta a Londra, Mathers ha tutto ci`o di cui necessita per fondare, nel 1892, l'Ordine Interno o Secondo della Golden Dawn: una societ`a prettamente rosacruciana chiamata infatti 'RR+AC', Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Crucis."English translation:
"In 1891, Mathers was called to Paris by a mysterious emissary of the Secret Chiefs of the Third Order, known to him only as Frater Lux E Tenebris. Guardian of the mystery traditions of the Sumerians, the Babylonians and Egyptians, Frater Lux E Tenebris deposited in Mathers' hands the keys to access this ancient and secret wisdom. Once in London, Mathers has everything he needs to found in 1892, the Inner or Second Order of the Golden Dawn a purely Rosicrucian society called the 'RR + AC ', Roseae Rubeae et Aureae Cross. "Note that the above cited quote recently appeared not on a publisher's publicity blog, but rather in a highly respected academic journal.
Indeed, it is these self same Sumerian, Babylonian, and Egyptian initiatic mysteries that are now being further transmitted in (6=5) Adeptus Major and (7=4) Adeptus Exemptus grades of the Inner Order the Alpha et Omega.
