In Pursuit of Mysteries

Open Source Golden Dawn

An ex-girlfriend of mine forwarded this url to me today. She’s a member of the Open Source Golden Dawn group down in the San Francisco Bay Area. This was started by my friend Sam Webster about a year and a half or so ago. He and the group seem to be doing a lot of good things.

http://tahuti.osogd.org/osogd.org/index.html.

The Manifesto of the Open Source
Order of the Golden Dawn

Issued 23 September 2002 CE

“Abrogate are all rituals, all ordeals, all words and signs. Ra-Hoor-Khuit
hath taken his seat in the East at the Equinox of the Gods.”

As Western Civilization enters a new Aeon, so must its esoteric traditions.
Our solution is not to destroy the old traditions, but to make them new
again.

Our Order is a manifestation and heir of the Golden Dawn current — that
is, an autonomous entity, but one that draws upon the knowledge, experience,
practices and spirit of the system of magical training and attainment
developed by the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. That Order
was in turn an heir to the Hermeticists, Alchemists and Magi of the Renaissance
and of the Classical world.

The practices of the Golden Dawn lodges were built upon the foundation
of Hermetic and Qabalistic philosophy, though the outward form of their
rituals and symbolism were sociologically derived and culturally biased.
The first Chief of the Order, S.L. Macgregor-Mathers (Fr. D.D.C.F.), admitted
this in his final statement to the Order before his death. As reported
by his wife and lifelong collaborator, Moina Bergsen Mathers (Sr. V.N.R.),
he said:

“He asks that you should keep intact the official Instruction
of the Order, knowing that he received it in a direct line from the most
pure Rosicrucian sources, even though these Mysteries are found somewhat
modified in their exterior form, for reasons of Tribe and Culture.”

So we conclude that the form of the Golden Dawn system is modifiable “for
reasons of Tribe and Culture,” and in fact requires of us to do so
given the vast cultural differences between 1888 England and ourselves
today.

Since the essence of the Golden Dawn constitutes “mysteries,”
and insofar as they are valid they transcend culture, every time the culture
shifts, the Mysteries must be “rediscovered” — which is to
say they must be re-cast into a form that has the desired effect of Initiation
and Exaltation on practitioners belonging to the new culture.

Therefore Het-Nuit Lodge, our working body, is undertaking to redact the
existing forms of the Golden Dawn System to work more efficiently and
correctly within a culture that is radically different from the Anglican
Christian/Victorian Era from which the originals came. Entering on a new
millennium is as good a time as any for a new start, so it is fitting
that Het-Nuit Lodge grew out of a ritual workshop held in February of
2001ev.

So far, this redaction has taken on certain distinct aspects:

Open Source Magick: The revelation of the once-secret Hermetic
symbols and philosophies that are the foundation of the Golden Dawn’s
system has long since occurred, yet we still see Lodges swearing their
Aspirants to absolute secrecy with mighty oaths of death and destruction,
if they dare to reveal to the uninitiated the “secret knowledge”
which the uninitiated could buy cheaply at a used book store. We see no
reason to follow this defunct and even harmful approach.

Instead, following the demonstrably advantageous practice of the Open
Source Software movement, we build our Order on the sources of knowledge
that are accessible to anyone. Our sources are already open; we simply
affirm this obvious fact. We have no “secrets” to conceal, in
particular those that have already been revealed. And in any case, the
era of artificial secrecy is at an end. Ours is the Information Age, and
we embrace it fully. Therefore we ordain and establish our order as the
Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn.

New Aeon: Het-Nuit bases its authority to redact the GD system
on the concept of Aeonic Evolution. The early years of the 20th century
mark the “dawning of the Age of Aquarius,” which was the ending
of the Modern Era that began with the European Enlightenment and concluded
with the Second World War. It was the period that saw the original GD
Order explode into schisms, and also saw Aleister Crowley’s writing of
Liber AL, the Book of the Law. These things are not at all a “co-incidence,”
but rather a line drawn in the sands of time. The old must be put to rest
and the new be born.

Freedom of Information: We agree with Robert Anton Wilson, who
said, “Accuracy of signal and free flow of information define sanity
in my epistemology.” Our ritual works, commentaries, instructional
documents, diagrams and formulae are all available to the general public,
for free without restriction. Our primary means of distribution is the
World Wide Web, chosen for it’s economy and ease of universal access.

Therefore, as we produce works they will be tested in our own lives, modified
if need be according to insights gained through our own experience and
that of others with whom we share them (like the ‘beta testing’ of computer
software) to assure ourselves of their efficacy, and then, upon our satisfaction,
released to the general public by posting them to our website in open
‘pdf’ or similar format. Anyone will be allowed and is encouraged to download
and use the rites, etc. The files will be open and editable, allowing
the user to easily make changes at will. This approach preserves the integrity
of our original work while giving users the freedom to apply their own
intelligence and insight in light of their own necessity.

Thelema: Het-Nuit Lodge is not an attempt to rebuild the Golden
Dawn on the basis of ‘purely Thelemic’ principles, but Thelema informs
and transforms the understanding and purpose of our Work.

Without going into deep discussion of Thelemic philosophy, we take inspiration
from the idea the “Ra-Hoor-Khuit hath taken his seat in the East
at the Equinox of the Gods” (AL I.49) and alter our rituals
accordingly. We operate from the paradigm that the Aeon has changed and
Horus (Ra-Hoor-Khuit) is its avatar, as Osiris (Ausar-Un-Nefer) was the
avatar of the previous Age of Pisces.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that every man and every woman
is a Star, and has a ‘True’ Will in life, one that can be discovered by
the invocation of the Higher Genius found in us all. Once having discovered
one’s ‘True’ Will, then one has no right but to do that Will. That Love
is the Law, and Love under ‘True’ Will is Perfect Love.

Duty: The Order will not require or promote any form of moral dogma,
religious canon, apocalyptic doctrine or political philosophy. In keeping
with the well-established and eminently wise tradition of the original
Order, the civil, moral and religious beliefs and practices of the individual
members are none of the Order’s business, however much the teachings and
practices of the Order may deepen awareness of one’s commitments.

The Order exists for one reason and one reason only: the elevation of
individual human beings from ignorance of their true nature to Magical
Adepthood. The Order asks nothing of its Initiates but a sincere commitment
to penetrate the Occult Mysteries and apply the knowledge gained to their
own lives in a productive and compassionate manner. The only duty to our
Order of the Golden Dawn is the Aspirant’s duty to his or her Higher Self,
to their own True Will and spiritual destiny, and to the comity of the
community.

It is our greatest desire and fondest hope that others will take what
we have done and build on it for the future, adapting it without breaking
it, to work as well for themselves.

Universalism: The original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was
steeped in the Protestant Christian mythology and symbolism that typified
the era and the religious background of the original members. The Het-Nuit
Lodge, on the other hand, was established by 21st century Pagans, who
do not subscribe to the Pauline Christian philosophy of a “fallen”
humanity in need of redemption from our sinful nature. Instead, our true
nature is that of the gods, and the source of our suffering is our ignorance
that masks our true nature from ourselves. As Pagans, we also hold that
a multifarious expression of the Divine is more representative of its
actual Nature than a monotheistic one. This is not to exclude all forms
of magical practice and ritual based on Judeo-Christian mythology, but
rather to include the rest of the rich mythological history of the World’s
cultures on an equal basis. As has been said, “There is none but
contains a Ray from the Ineffable Light you are seeking.”

The basic symbolism of our Temple and Rituals reflect these principles
in their form and function, but are built upon the same foundation of
a graded system of spiritual development based on the Hermetic and Qabalistic
principles that transcend all outward forms.

We have, as much as possible, diminished the Yahwistic and Christian influences
that marked the old Aeon manifestation of the Order. Yahweh no longer
has primacy as in the Hebraic Qabala, as we acknowledge the Caananite
and broader context of which the Hebrew Qabala is product and a remnant.
We exalt the Egyptian and Hellenic Pagan archetypes as applied to interpreting
the Qabalistic Tree of Life, which figures so prominently in the Golden
Dawn system. Our use of the Qabalah and the Hebrew alphabet is as a system
of symbolic glyphs and magickal names particularly well suited to the
learning process.

Form and Function: The formula of the Dying and Resurrected God
(Osiris) is replaced in our Temple by the formula of the Crowned and Conquering
Child (Horus). We find the focus on death and sacrifice a distraction
from the sufficiently daunting task of creating a sustainable magickal
life in this post-modern era. Birth, and the challenges that ensue, inspire
us to Adeptship.

In much of our temple work, we use the Egyptian, Enochian or Thelemic
godforms instead of those of the Semitic Archangels. We have done some
re-assignment of symbolic positions of the Temple Officers. Horus is the
Heirophant of the Temple in the East, replacing his father Osiris, and
his former place in the West is taken by Set. Not only is this redaction
consistent with the new Aeon, it also reflects current scholarship in
Egyptology that was unknown 100 years ago.

Like any Golden Dawn form, we are an Initiatory teaching order. What we
teach is a progressively tiered system of spiritual development designed
to invoke the Higher or Divine Genius latent in every human being. By
this invocation can a person discover and follow his or her True Will,
and have both the power and the wisdom to effectively use the tools of
Hermetic magick.

In short, our goal is to normalize Adeptship.

From our hearts and minds, into the hands of all humanity, we issue
this Manifesto, with the unanimous assent of the Membership, on the 23rd
day of September, Two-thousand and Two of the Common Era.

So mote it be,

The Members of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn

For the Order:

Frater IO, Chief Adept
Frater A.H.H., Praemonstrator
Soror H.e.H., Cancellarius

Frater A.o.C., Imperator and Scribe

“May the benefit of this act, and all acts, be dedicated unto
the Complete Liberation and the Supreme Enlightenment of all beings, everywhere,
pervading space and time, so mote it be. May the benefits of practice,
ours and others, come to fruition, ultimately and immediately, and we
remain in a state of presence.”