Mishkan ha-Echad

Thursday 4 February 2010

A Living Tradition

The Golden Dawn is a living, breathing, growing tradition. Some people like to suggest it is dead or dying, but they are delusional, for they have either not experienced it or have experienced a corrupted or soulless form of it.

When the original Order schismed the tradition went in seperate directions, the Current diverging into many different streams. This brought the tradition to more people, just as tributaries bring water to more land. It allowed the system to grow in multiple ways because it unshackled it from its original constraints. The mystical brought it in one direction, the masonic in another, the magical in yet another. The SM and AO developed two different, yet equally valid, streams from which the GD current could grow exponentially more than would have been possible had they all remained together.

And it is still here, growing, taking new directions. Things are being added and changed, new insights found, new ways of looking at the material of our forefathers, and new material for our children to look upon and discover things we do not know. Tradition is a trade, a give and take, a flux, the intake and outake of breath, for it must be alive or it is a fossil for the eyes of academics. Thus must we not cling to tradition for the sake of it, but help it grow so that it may help us grow in turn.

For more of my thoughts on tradition (from a Gnostic perspective), check here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Dean,

I tried to contact Lyam Christopher Thomas for his opinion on this but apparently his email isnt used anymore. After reading Kabbalah Magic what is your view on performing some of these rituals astrally in the same manner that Regardie performed them ex Middle Pillar while walking or on public transport?

One of the things that kind of bothers me about teh currciulum is that I'm currently going through a tarot certification program but Lyam suggest not undertaking any mother work except his. All this despite the fact I would really like to use Lyam's curriculum.

Frater Yechidah said...

Hey Marquis,

There is no problem with performing the rituals astrally. In fact, this is an important aspect of the work. It is particularly useful for doing them "on the fly" while at work or out and about. However, this should not be a replacement for physical performances of the rituals also. You should aim to employ both.

Not mixing systems is very important if you want to get the most out of one. That said, you should be able to continue your Tarot certificate program and also follow Lyam's curriculum, providing you recognise that they may teach conflicting things, particularly if the cert you're doing is not employing the Tarot the way the GD did. For GD work use the GD method with the Tarot.

LVX,
Dean.

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