Wednesday 12 December 2012

The Meaning of 12


"There are Twelve commandments
There are Twelve divisions
Twelve are the 'pagans' who have mapped the sky"

  - Bruce Dickinson (from "The Tower")

 As this is the date of 12 / 12/ 12, I thought I'd publish here a reminder of what the Stella Matutina/ Golden Dawn says about the number 12

In the Zelator Ritual, we are shown the Diagram of the Table of Shewbread: -


"To the Northern side of the Holy Place, stood the Table of Shewbread. The drawing before you represents its occult meaning. On it twelve leaves were laid as emblems of the Bread of life, and it is an image of the Mystery of the Rose of Creation. The 12 circles are the 12 Signs of the Zodiac, while the Lamp in the center is symbolic of the Sun, which is the source of heat and life. The four Triangles whose twelve angles each touch one of the 12 circles are those of Fire, Earth, Air, and Water, and allude to the four Triplicities of the Zodiacal Signs. The Triangle inscribed within each of the 12 circles, alludes to the 3 Decanates, or phases of ten degrees of each sign. On one side of each Triangle is the Permutation of the Divine Name YHVH, which is referred to that particular sign, while in the opposite side of it is the name of one of the 12 Tribes which is also attributed to it. Now the 22 sounds and letters of the Hebrew Alphabet are the foundation of all things. Three Mothers, Seven Double and Twelve Singles. The Twelve Single letters are allotted to the 12 directions in space, and those diverge to Infinity, and are in the arms of the Eternal. These Twelve Letters He designed and combined, and fortified with them the Twelve Celestial Constellations of the Zodiac. They are over the Universe as a King upon his throne, and they are in the revolution of the year as a King traversing his dominions, and they are in the heart of man as a King in warfare. And the Twelve Leaves are the images of those ideas, and are the outer petals of the Rose; while within are the Four Archangels ruling over the Four Quarters, and the Kerubic emblems of the Lion, Man, Bull and Eagle. Around the great central Lamp which is an image of the Sun, is the Great Mother of Heaven, symbolized by the letter Heh, the first of the Single letters, and by its number 5, the Pentagram, Malkah the Bride, ruling in her Kingdom Malkuth, crowned with a crown of Twelve Stars. These Twelve Circles further represent the 12 Foundations of the Holy City of the Apocalypse while in Christian Symbolism the Sun and the Twelve Signs are referred to Christ and His Twelve Apostles."

Essentially it is all Astro-Theology or Stellar-Theology - the study that relates how that Religious or Spiritual symbolism is patterned after what is going on in the HeavensThis is expressed in the idea that the Microcosm reflects the Macrocosm.



Another great book on the subject


My friend, Michael Tsarion's book on AstroTheology


Table of Shewbread with 12 loaves




It is interesting to note also, that the 12 occurs in our measurement of 
(1) Hourly time:   12 hours
(2) Yearly time:   12 months
(3) Aeonic time:  12 Great Astrological Ages

12, 12, 12 !

The Sacred number of the Rosicrucian Current is 120, 12 to a factor of 10, the number of the Sephiroth.

3 multiplied by 120 is a Full Circle (infinity) - 3 being the Triad of Life, or Holy Trinity of Isis-Osiris-Horus in action.

Why did the ancients choose to have 12 zodiacal signs? Was that just what they saw in the sky? I, for one, do not think so. I think the Signs are only space-markers. It is the 12-fold division of the Zodiacal belt or Wheel that is important. 

But why 12 then? Why 12 divisions?

For the same reason that there are 12 hours in the day and months in the year (which correspond approximately to the 12 signs anyway) -

The reason is that 12 is a number that can be easily divided into quarters and thirds. Mathematically this is means it is more useful than 10. For magical systems that depend upon 4 directions in space (which is really just halving and halving again) and 4 Elements and upon sets of Trinities, Triads or Thirds, then 12 is a very useful  number indeed!

It is the perfect number for a system of astrology based on dividing the signs up into 4 Elements, with 3 phases (or "quadruplicities")  per element of Cardinal, Fixed and Mutable.

I will leave you with this interesting video discussion of the 12 from a mathematically point of view - it explains very well indeed (without mentioning anything overtly "spiritual") why our ancients, from whom we have inherited our Magical and Hermetic systems, would have loved the number 12 so much.

See:

LVX 120, Sr SD




Thursday 20 September 2012

The Moon – Water or Air??



This article, which has been sitting on my one of my pen-drives for a few months, was a development based on a comment I made to an article called “Why is the Moon grade connected to the element of Air?” on Nick Farrell’s blog. I found nothing to disagree with in what Nick said on that blog, I was merely adding my own thoughts on the Moon and the GD association with Air. The comment got so long, that I kept it on file, with half a mind to make a full article out of it and I just recently stumbled on it again, so I have decided I might as well use it now as a blog article. I added some more points to it today. Here it is:

Luna, Ruler of the Waves.
In modern occult movements like Wicca, the Moon is associated with Water and is female (as the Sun is with Fire and is male). Perhaps this all started with Dion Fortune, who says in her Mystical Qabalah. Nick mentions Ms. Fortune's book Moon Magic, which influenced Gerald Gardner and Wicca, mentions the Moon only in reference to water. It is not just in Moon Magic we see this, but also in her greatest masterpiece: The Mystical Qabalah.

This attribution is interesting, as Dion Fortune was trained in the Golden Dawn system of Qabalah and she is generally speaking very true to that system, yet the Golden dawn attributes the Moon (and Yesod) to Air, not Water. So why, in The Mystical Qabalah, does she discuss the Sephirah of Yesod in terms of the Moon and Water, and not in terms of the Moon and Air?

One reason for Ms Fortune's interpretation of the Moon as Water (despite her GD training)  is that, according to the GD Qabalistic system, both Yesod and the Moon correspond to, and are ruled by, the Archangel Gabriel, who as Fortune points out is the Archangel of Water (not Air!)

Some thoughts on this I have had over the years -

One association of the Moon with Water seems to come down to the fact that it pulls the tides.
But in this case that means it rules over water (via the tides) rather than is made itself of water.
Thus it rules water but is not itself watery. This is comparable to how Aquarius while being the “Water-Bearer” is not itself a Water sign as such. It is of course an Air sign, and Air is “the bearer of water “- as we know from dewfall and the moisture in the air.

Perhaps also an association arose because it appears silvery, like the surface of a lake.
Another watery association is with the menstrual (“moon-strual”) cycles of the female – and hence of the “female” element of water, through the amniotic fluids of menstruation and birth. However, even here there is a striking contradiction to this easy association – many of the ancient lunar deities are MALE  (e.g. Thoth, Khonsu and the Babylonian god, Sin) !

The constantly changing Moon.
Another association with water would be the *changeability* of the Moon – sometimes its full and round, sometimes only a crescent, etc – like water it is fluid, constantly in flux. However, this would also apply to Air. And there we see how perhaps the moon can justifiably be said to represent either Air or Water – because both are FLUIDS. In mainstream science, both liquids and gases are described as Fluids – i.e. they flow from one shape to another. 



Water & Air are both fluids.

So, we could say that, generally speaking, 
the Moon is the symbol of 
all that is FLUID.









But getting back to the GD’s attribution of the Moon to Air...

 It seems the only logical attribution to make. First, the reason already stated (that all GD students know) that Air is the Reconciler between the 2 “extreme” elements of Fire and Water – Air had to be on the Middle Pillar. We can also see why the Moon should be on the Middle Pillar: the Sun should be central on the Tree(being the centre of the Solar system and the supreme symbol of the redeeming Divine Light) and the moon being the reflection of this Divine Light (and the Holder of that Light in the darkness) – it was appropriate to place the Moon directly beneath the Sun and directly above the Earth/Malkuth. Essentially the two main luminaries, the Sun and the Moon, should be on the Middle Pillar. And so the moon, like Air falls on the Middle Pillar and cannot therefore be attributed to Water, at least not directly.






Nick wrote that “the association of water to the moon is a fairly modern attribution.”
Indeed, if we look at how the ancients saw it - one other point of interest is to look at the ancient Egyptian and Greek Gods again –the great Teacher of the Hermetic Tradition, Thoth (Hermes) was always associated with the Moon in ancient Egypt (Mercury  with Thoth was a later association as far as I can discern). Thoth was the God of the Mind & Communication – both of which have always been associated with the Element of AIR, not Water ; so it’s natural to associate the Moon (through the lunar Deity, Thoth) with AIR. 




My conclusion? 

- The Moon corresponds to Fluidity and Changeability - hence it corresponds to both Air and Water, as these are the fluids, the changeable substances. The Golden Dawn chose to attribute Air to the Moon directly, because it had to do so to keep the idea of Air as the central Equilibrating Element on the Middle Pillar between the Spheres of Water and Fire, while it attributed Water to the Moon indirectly by having it correspond to the Archangel Gabriel.


Monday 23 July 2012

Name of Order


"The Morning Star", by Alphonse Mucha, 1902

Today, as the Sun enters his Royal sign of Rulership, Leo, we announce the new name of our Order, as: -

The Universal Order of the Morning Star

After much deliberation and many unbelievable synchronities, we came to the conclusion that this was definitely the correct name for our Order.

We just want to make a small disclaimer that this Order is a fairly new entity and has no connection with any previous Order that used the words "Morning Star" in its title. We draw our inspiration, however, most definitely from the original Order known as the Stella Matutina (Latin  for "Morning Star"), that boasted such great members as W. B Yeats, Dr Israel Regardie and Dr Robert Felkin (who took the Golden Dawn/Stella Matutina to New Zealand) - people who really made the system of the Golden Dawn work, even at a time when they were no longer calling it "Golden Dawn."

That said, we do not claim any direct institutional lineage from the original Order of the Stella Matutina, nor do we aim to be a modern day replica of that traditional Golden Dawn approach. Rather, we are inspired by innovative Orders such as the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn who have openly adapted the Golden Dawn system to incorporate new elements into the system, from Tibetan Buddhism and Thelema, and, in our case Taoism. We see this not as detracting from the Magick Sword of our Work, but as having a effect of tempering and strengthening its blade; and in the process of tempering we make sure and not destroy or lose the original steel.

The Order original known (in 1888 onward) as the Golden Dawn changed its name as early as 1903 to Stella Matutina, and also, in its other wing to Alpha & Omega. 

We have chosen to describe ourselves as a Universal Order, which is the subject of another blog post, but for now let's say that it is a reference to Maat and as we wrote in our Probationary Grade material: -

"This is important magical work and should be done daily to build up positive magical energy and most importantly connect you to your Higher Self and to what we call The Universal Order - represented in Egyptian Tradition as the Goddess Maat (Maat means Truth or Order).  Before you join an Order, it is important that you find Order within yourself, so that you can be receptive to the Teachings of the Order from Neophyte onwards.  These daily exercises therefore, are, for the probationer absolutely crucial."

There appears to be no general consensus as to what exactly "The Morning Star" is: some say Venus, some say it's just the Sun (the star that apears in the morning) and say it is Lucifer, and some even say it is Jesus; as far as we are concerned it it Sirius (also known as Sothis), the so-called dog-star. It is tghe subject of another post but it is essentially Sirius is very important for the Golden Dawn tradition becvuase it has strong associations with the Gods whose energies are so central to our system - Isis, Osiris, Horus and Anubis.
Sirius (the Morning Star) - the brightest Star in the Heavens 



Indeed as Sirius appears just before the sun, many see Sirius as the Herald (Kerux) of the Divine Light (represented by the Sun itself). Thus on one level, it is Anubis herladed Horus (Ra-Horus to be precise), who for us is not just the Divine Light, but the Initiating Current. It is not for nothing that Sirius is nick-named the DOG-Star.

That said, the association of Sirius with Isis, the Divine Mother (and Praemonstrator godform of the Golden Dawn, both traditional and modern) is also, not to be overlooked by us.

It is an interesting synchronicity therefore that we chose to make this announcement of our name on 23rd of July, the beginning of the Dog Days and of Sirius' appearance as Herald of the Sun.

See:  http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=106901

LVX 120 + 888,

Soror S.D.,     Praemonstrator
Frater M.K.,   Imperator
Frater V.E.L.,  Cancellarius

Frater E.P.E.E.A.T.S.,    Sub-Praemonstrator 
Soror I.S.I.S.,                 Sub-Cancellarius 
U.O.M.S.

Frater H.E.M.,                Chief of Isis-Nuit Temple, Spain








Sunday 24 June 2012

30th Anniversary of the Consecration of the Vault



  • Congratulations 
    to Chic and Tabatha Cicero
    for this 30 year running, and many thanks to them for the consistent Work they have done for the GD community at large! 

    This is a very important anniversary for the Golden Dawn tradition...
    The consecration of this vault started a chain reaction of events that led many of us to where we are today in the GD world, even those of us who went on to form our own GD-based groups and Orders would, I am sure, been less empowered to do so had it not been for that landmarking Magical Act exactly 3 decades ago! 
    The vast array of names from various Golden Dawn-based Orders, Lodges and related magical societies shows that the great spirit of community among our kind is alive and well. Long may it last ! 
    Blessings in LVX
    -Soror SD 


Monday 21 May 2012

The 3 Chiefs of the Golden Dawn



Both the traditional and the modern Golden Dawn Orders are run by a triumvirate - that is, by Three ChiefsAlthough the term triumvirate is of Roman origin, for the sake of understanding the Golden Dawn’s triumvirate (or 3 Chief rulership) the best examples of such are to be found within the dynasties of China. See:


Order Chiefs  vs.  Lodge Chiefs

It must also be understood that the 3 Chief system applies not only to the Order as a whole, but also to each individual lodge/temple. Thus, a person can be both a Cancellarius for the Order, while being a Praemonstrator for their local lodge. The 3 Chiefs for Order decide the direction of the Order as a whole, while the 3 Chiefs of a Lodge, decide the direction of the lodge only (and  that, always in harmony with the decisions of the 3 Chiefs of the Order).


Sub-Chiefs

The traditional Golden Dawn stated that each Chief may appoint a sub-Chief to work with them. Thus the Praemonstrator may appoint a sub-Praemonstrator, the Cancellarius, a sub-Cancellarius and so on. This applies not only to the Order Chiefs, but also to the Lodge Chiefs. Thus a person may be sub-Cancellarius of a Lodge but have no such authority as regards the Order as a whole, while a person who, for instance is the sub-Praemonstrator for the Order may have no such responsibility as regards the individual administration of any particular lodge. The sub-Chief must, of course, agree to take on the responsibility of the position and cannot be forcibly nominated as such. 

Here is a description of the Chiefs, as I understand and interpret it -


Praemonstrator 


While, in the original Golden Dawn Order, the Praemonstrator was of secondary rank to the Imperator, in our Order, UOMS, the Praemonstrator is the highest ranked and is also the Supreme Chief of the Order (or individual Lodge, in the case of the Lodge Praemonstrator).
“Praemonstrator” is a Latin term meaning guide, advisor or counsellor
The Praemonstrator corresponds to Chesed (Mercy) and Jupiter on the Tree of Life, and is associated with Isis, the Mother of the Gods[i]. Being on the sphere of mercy and compassion (Chesed), the Praemonstrator leads in a gently persuasive and nurturing manner.  Where a more severe approach is required, this is the role of the Imperator to implement. As Chesed (the Praemonstrator’s sphere) is also the Sphere of Jupiter, the Praemonstrator is always concerned with ways and means to expand the Order and its teachings. The role of the Imperator is to “check” this otherwise rapid expansion, by ensuring that quantity does not come at the cost of quality.
The Praemonstrator was also (in the Stella Matutina) called the Daemonstrator[ii] – literally, the one who demonstrates or teaches the principles behind the Order, its lectures, its ceremonies and its functioning generally. The meaning is essentially the same.


Imperator


Imperator, literally one who gives an imperative, an order, a command that should be followed by all the officers and members. The Imperator is the “Commander” of the Order (or Lodge). In the UOMS, the Imperator is next ranked to the Praemonstrator.  The Praemonstrator leads with us, for in UOMS the primary function of the Order is to teach and guide, not to command. However, a certain amount of commanding is necessary that there be enough discipline and structure that the Teaching may be successfully communicated by the Praemonstrator. Thus, the Imperator (Commander) assists the Praemonstrator in the doing of her work. To give an order, really means to create an awareness of order, necessary for the running of an Order. Those who react badly to the idea of “command” or to the idea of the administration of orders, should realize that the function of the Imperator, as commander, is not to command individual members of the Order as such, but rather is to create and maintain a structure by commanding and directing the system of the Order in such a way to really be an ”Order”, in the true sense of what the word means – a tiered, structured system of Initiation and progress which will lead the initiate to an increased awareness and appreciation of the already existing Divine Order of the Universe - exactly as the name “Universal Order” implies.
The Imperator corresponds to Geburah (Severity) and Mars on the Tree of Life, and is associated with Nephthys, the darker twin counterpart of Isis.


Cancellarius


The Cancellarius is the next ranked of the Chiefs. He or she is the Record-Keeper of the Order.
From this word has come the modern "Chancellor", as in Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The Cancellarius corresponds to Tiphareth (Beauty) and the Sun on the Tree of Life, and is associated with the Godform Thoth, lord of Logic, communication and Scribe of the Gods.
The role of the Cancellarius being on the middle pillar of the Tree (at Tiphareth), is one of a Reconciler between the more extreme viewpoints of the Praemonstrator and Imperator. If the   Praemonstrator is overly gentle or the Imperator overly severe, the Cancellarius can seek for the balance between the two. This is the role of Thoth as Lord of Truth (ThothTut/Tehuti = Truth), as “Truth is discerned in the place of balanced powers”. 
The Cancellarius of the Order should seek to monitor all vehicles of communication of the Order’s teaching, such as hard-copy publications and, in this age of the internet, all websites, blogs and forums. The Cancellarius should ensure, by means of analysis and suggestions, that all these means are also suitable for the keeping of the Record of the Order’s Purpose, activities and general philosophy. A lodge Cancellarius should focus on keeping the record of all initiations performed in the lodge, all examinations passed, all other ceremonies performed and all meetings held; and should have access to all financial records, such as all lodge bank account statements (just as the Chancellor of the Exchequer does for a country).


Strictly for Trekkies


As this is a blog entry and we don’t have to be too formal, we can use a fun analogy and, since Golden Dawn folk appear to love Star Trek analogies, let’s use one from Star Trek Voyager. The Imperator is like Commander Chakotay, while The Praemonstrator is like Captain Janeway. Often in the series, you will see Janeway offer guidance and philosophical counselling (i.e. praemonstrating, directing and teaching) to various members of the crew as well as making the final decisions on where the ship (Order) is going.  The Cancellarius would be the vulcan Tuvok – the one who keeps a cool head, who brings logic and clear, unemotional observation to the table – this is the kind of person you need as a record-keeper (and remember The Godform of the Cancellarius – Thoth is Lord of Logic, in Greece, he was called the logos, the root of the word “logic”).


Make sure and choose the right people for the job of Imperator, Praemonstrator and Cancellarius of your Lodge and Order (Ship), so you can pilot many adventures together into “the Universe and Space”.

Bearing this in mind, now is a good time to go back to the Wikipedia article on the Triumvirate of the Chinese dynasties mentioned at the beginning of this blog article, and see if you can recognise - in its 3 forms of manifestation - the equivalent to the 3 Chiefs of the Golden Dawn –
 There is no exact correlation, but play around with it for a greater understanding of how the 3-Chief idea has been used throughout history.

[this article was updated on October 2012 to reflect the new name of our Order].



[i] and in particular, the Mother of Horus, in UOMS, the Lord of Initiation.
[ii] According to Pat Zalewski in his “Golden Dawn Rituals and Commentaries” [p.436], in the Stella Matutina, they used Daemonstrator (Demonstrator) in place of Praemonstrator.