The Golden Dawn

by Israel Regardie

  Having traversed the Path of Tau, the darkness of the astral plane and of the black pillar, stand firm in Yesod, that the black pillar may become the white.

  Hiereus takes away Tau after leading Philosophus to Hegemon at altar. Hegemon rises but stands between Philosophus and the altar, so that Philosophus does not too clearly apprehend the change of symbols.

  HEG: Before you, in the east, are the five portals of the twenty-first, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, and twenty-third Paths. Five will divide the number of the letter of each of them, as it will divide without remainder that of every Path from Yod, the twentieth, to Tau, the thirty-second. The five Paths here visible are assigned to Mem, water; Ayin, Capricornus, an earthy sign; Samekh, Sagittarius, a fiery sign; Nun, Scorpio, a watery sign, but in its highest aspect also a ruler of fire; and Kaph, Jupiter, which planet is akin to spirit, and rules especially aspiration. Thus both in number and in significance these planets jointly set forth the eternal symbol of the pentagram. This symbol must now be established—wherefore advancing by the Kerubic Path of Aquarius approach the highest in Netzach.

  Hegemon leads Philosophus to foot of dais to Second Adept before Kaph and Nun.

  2ND AD: Wherefore do you stand at the base of the white pillar, being but lord of the First Degree?

  PHIL: (Prompted) I seek the Path of Kaph, the Path of Aspiration.

  HIEREUS: (Knocks) Beware. Temerity is not courage, lord of the First Degree. Remember the warning of the tower struck by lightning that was revealed in the highest Path you have yet adventured. As a house built upon the sand cannot endure, so without the strength of Geburah the height of Chesed cannot be scaled. Stay, therefore, ere your limbs be broken upon the wheel.

  2ND AD: The portal of Kaph is barred, yet it is well to aspire, though it may be folly to attempt. This Path is governed by the wheel of life and death, and hard it is to be freed from that wheel.

  PHIL: (Prompted by Hegemon) Let me seek then the Path of Nun.

  2ND AD: It is open to you, unto the limit of your strength.

  Hegemon returns to altar. Second Adept guides Philosophus to west. Hiereus bars way.

  HIEREUS: In the power of Typhon the destroyer, and of Death the transformer, stand. (Knocks)

  2ND AD: Thus far and no farther is it permitted to penetrate into the Path of Nun, whose mysteries may now partially be revealed unto you.

  Second Adept takes Philosophus to tarot key of Death.

  Tarot Key 13, Death

  2ND AD: The thirteenth key of tarot represents the figure of a skeleton, upon which some portions of flesh still remain. In a field he is reaping off with the scythe of death the fresh vegetation which springs from corrupting bodies buried therein, fragments of which, such as hands, heads, and feet, appear above the soil. Bones also are strewn upon the surface. One of the heads wears a kingly crown; another is apparently that of a person of little note, showing that death is the equaliser of all conditions. The five extremities, the head, hands, and feet, allude to the powers of the number five, the letter He, the pentagram—the concealed spirit of life and the four elements—the originator of all living form. The sign of Scorpio especially alludes to stagnant and foetid water—that property of the moist nature which initiates putrefaction and decay. The eternal change from life into death, through death into life, is symbolized by the grass which springs from and is nourished by putrifying and corrupting carcasses; the herbage, in its turn, affords food to animals and man, which again when dead, nourisheth vegetable life and bring to growth and perfection the living herbage. This is further shown by the figure itself putrifying and decaying as it reaps the grass of the field. “As for man, his days are as grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.” 7 The top of the scythe forms the Tau cross of life, showing that what destroys also renews.

  The whole is a representation of the eternal transmutation of the life of nature, which reforms all things into fresh images and similitudes. This symbol represents the corrosive and destructive action of the infernal fire as opposed to the celestial—the dragon of the waters, the Typhon of the Egyptians, the slayer of Osiris—which later yet rises again in Horus. The scorpion, serpent of evil, delineated before the figure of Death in the more ancient form of the key, refers to the mixed and transforming, therefore deceptive, nature of this emblem. Behind him is the symbol of the nameless one, representing the seed and its germ, not yet differentiated into life, therefore incapable of definition. The scorpion is the emblem of ruthless destruction; the snake is the mixed and deceptive nature, serving alike for good and evil; the eagle is the higher and divine nature, yet to be found herein, the alchemical eagle of distillation, the renewer of life. As it is said: “Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle’s.” 8 Great indeed, and many, are the mysteries of this terrible key.

  Second Adept and Hiereus show Philosophus the figure of Typhon.

  Typhon

  HIEREUS: This drawing represents the symbolic figure of Typhon, the destroyer. The eleven circles represent the eleven averse Sephiroth. He stands upon earth and ocean, his head lost in the clouds, a colossal image of evil and destruction. The brow denotes the confusion of opposing elemental forces in the higher regions of the air, and confusion of mind and madness in man. The eyes are the devouring flames of lust and violence—the breath is storm, devastation, and rage, alike in the universe which is the greater world, and in man who is the lesser. The arms and the hands are the swift executors of evil works, the bringers of pestilence and disease. The heart is malice and envy in man, the nourisher of evil in the atmosphere, which later are again symbolized by the numerous and twining serpents.

  2ND AD: The twenty-fourth Path of the Sepher Yetzirah to which the tarot key of Death is referred is the imaginative intelligence, and it is so called because it giveth form to all similitudes which are created in like manner similar to its harmonious elegances. For the outward form always follows the hidden law, thus from chaos is produced harmony, just as a beautiful flower is produced from decaying matter. Return now to Yesod, for here no more may be spoken.

  Second Adept returns to place. Philosophus goes to Hegemon near altar.

  HEG: Approach now the station of Hod by the Path of Resh, the sun.

  Philosophus approaches the Third Adept.

  3RD AD: Already the sash of the black pillar is upon you—already you have passed the dark Path of Tau. What more do you seek of me, lord of the First Degree?

  PHIL: (Prompted by Hegemon) I seek the Path of Mem, the Path of Sacrifice.

  HIEREUS: (Knocks) Be warned, O vainglorious one. Samson broke down the two pillars and perished. Having but one pillar, can you bear up the might of Geburah, can you attain strength without the life of Tiphareth?

  3RD AD: The portal of Mem is barred. Yet it is well to be willing for the sacrifice itself if, as yet, not fully prepared. For in the Path of Mem rules the Hanged Man, the power of the great waters. Can your tears prevail against the tide of the sea, your might against the waves of the storm, your love against the sorrows of all the world?

  PHIL: (Prompted by Hegemon) Let me seek then the Path of Ayin.

  3RD AD: It is open to you to the limit of your strength.

  Hegemon returns to altar. Third Adept descends and leads Philosophus with Sol to west. Hiereus going to north. bars their way.

  Tarot Key 15, The Devil

  HIEREUS: (Knocks) By the power of Pan and the goat of Mendes, stand.

  3RD AD: Thus far and no farther are you permitted to penetrate the Path of Ayin, whose mysteries may now be partially revealed to you. The fifteenth key of the tarot represents a goat-headed, satyr-like demon whose legs are hairy—his feet and claws, standing upon a cubical altar. He has heavy bat-like wings. In his left hand, which points downwards, he holds a lighted torch, and in his right, which is elevated, a horn of water. The left hand points downwards to show that it is the infernal and burning, not the celestial and life-giving flame which is kindled in his torch—just as when the sun is in C
apricornus, to which cold and earthy sign this key corresponds, solar light is at its weakest and the natures of cold and moisture triumph over heat and dryness. The cubical altar represents the universe—right and left of it, bound thereto by a cord attached to a circle which typifies the centre of Earth, are two smaller demons, one male and one female. They hold a cord in their hands. The whole figure shows the gross generative powers of nature on the material plane, and is analogous to the Pan of the Greeks and the Egyptian goat of Mendes, the symbol of Khem. In certain aspects, this key represents the brutal forces of nature, which to the unbelieving man only obscure and do not reflect the luminous countenance of God. It also alludes to the sexual powers of natural generation. Thus therefore the key fitly balances the symbol of Death on the other side of the Tree of Life. Of the smaller demons, one points downwards and one upwards, answering to the positions of the hands of the central figure. Beneath his feet are pentagrams on which he tramples (whence comes their title of wizard’s foot) and his head is covered with the evil and reversed pentagram. As his hands bear the torch and the horn, the symbols of fire and water, so does his form unite the earth in his hairy and bestial aspect, and the air in his bat-like wings. Thus he represents the gross and materialised elemental forces of nature; and the whole would be an evil symbol, were it not for the pentagram of light above his head which regulates and guides his movements. He is the eternal renewer of all the changing forms of creation in conformity with the law of the all-powerful one, blessed be He, which controlling law is typified by the controlling pentagram of light surmounting the whole. This key is an emblem of tremendous force; many and universal are its mysteries.

  Hiereus and Third Adept go to diagram of Pan.

  Pan

  HIEREUS: This drawing represents the symbolic figure of Pan, the Greek god of nature. He stands upon the cube of the universe, holding in his right hand the pastoral staff of rural authority, and in his left the seven-reeded pipe symbolical of the harmony of the planetary spheres. The nine circles represent the Sephiroth with the exception of Kether, exactly those which are included in the symbol of Mercury on the Tree of Life. The ruddy face is the heat of the earth—the horns are the rays—the body contains the elements and the cube is the firm basis. Observe that the higher part of the figure is human, growing more bestial as it nears the earth.

  3RD AD: The twenty-sixth Path of the Sepher Yetzirah, to which the tarot key of the Devil is referred, is called the renovating intelligence, because, by it, God the holy one reneweth all the changing forms which are renewed by the creation of the world. Return again to Yesod, for here no more may be spoken.

  Third Adept returns to place, Hiereus goes with Philosophus to altar. Hegemon rises as Philosophus comes to altar. Hiereus and Hegemon stand on either side of Philosophus west of altar, facing east.

  HIEREUS: In guardianship and not in enmity have I barred your venturing, O Philosophus. Now may it be revealed unto you how that in my lamen of office is hidden the key which you seek. For the triangle in the circle is the high symbol of the Holy Trinity and the first three Sephiroth, and of Binah, wherein is the Sphere of Saturn, ruler of the Path of Tau. Therefore do I wear it, and therefore, when you entered the hall of the Neophytes in the 0° = 0 , when first the hoodwink was raised, you beheld before you the sword that barred and the symbol which overcometh the barrier. The lamen in its more special attributions to the Hiereus has the following meanings. In the circle are the four Sephiroth, Tiphareth, Netzach, Hod, and Yesod. The first three mark the angles of the triangle inscribed within, while the sides are the Paths of Nun, Ayin and Peh, respectively. In the centre is marked the letter Samekh indicating the twenty-fifth Path.

  While the wheel revolves, the hub is still. Seek ever then the centre, look from without to within. Behold the key of your path.

  Puts badge aside.

  HEG: Five Paths are before you—four have you attempted and each was guarded by a symbol sinister and dread.

  Remember that in the 1° = 10 grade it was told you that above Malkuth were the Paths Qoph, Shin, Tau, making qesheth, the bow of promise. From the many-coloured bow is loosed in Yesod the arrow of Sagittarius—Samekh, soaring upward to cleave open the Veil unto the sun in Tiphareth. Thus it is a fit symbol for hope and aspiration, for in the sign Sagittarius, Jupiter, ruler of Kaph, is lord. Thus, by this straight and narrow way only is advance between the dangers that have threatened you possible.

  Third Adept descends to north side of altar.

  3RD AD: But Sagittarius, the archer, is a bi-corporate sign—the centaur, the man and the horse combined. Recall what was said unto thee in the passage of the thirty-first Path of Fire, leading unto the 3° = 8 grade of Practicus: “Also there is the vision of the fire flashing courser of light, or also a child borne aloft upon the shoulders of the celestial steed, fiery or clothed with gold, or naked and shooting from the bow, shafts of light, and standing on the shoulders of a horse. But, if thy meditation prolongeth itself thou shalt unite all these symbols in the form of a lion.” For thus wilt thou cleave upward by the Path of Sagittarius, through the sixth Sephirah into the Path of Teth, answering to Leo, the lion—the reconciling Path between mercy and severity, Chesed and Geburah, beneath whose centre hangs the glorious sun of Tiphareth. Therefore, by the straight and narrow Path of Sagittarius, let the Philosophus advance, like the arrow from the centre of Qesheth, the bow. And as this sign of Sagittarius lieth between the sign of Scorpio—Death and Capricornus the devil, so had Jesus to pass through the wilderness, tempted by Satan.

  Second Adept descends to south of the altar.

  2ND AD: Before you, upon the altar, lie the four emblems of your purified body, and over them is the symbol of the pentagram, while beneath in the midst is the five-squared cross of the four elements and the spirit within them. If you are willing, in service and in sacrifice to offer the purified powers of your body, bind about your neck the cross, and stretch the light (gives Philosophus light) you carry over the four emblems in prayer and offering.

  Philosophus does so.

  All come east of the altar, Philosophus in middle with candle and cross on neck, Second Adept right and Third Adept left, Hegemon and Hiereus behind. Each take elemental emblems—Hiereus salt, Hegemon rose leaves, Second Adept incense, Third Adept water, and Philosophus motto written on paper.

  2ND AD: Honoured Philosophus, what was the additional title given you in the 4° = 7 as a link with the Second Order?

  All advance to dais.

  PHIL: Phrath.

  2ND AD: O hidden warden of the portal of the vault, here is one who cometh in the word Phrath.

  CH. AD: (Knocks gong unseen.) If he would rend the Veil, let him complete the word.

  2ND AD: Honoured Hiereus, what know you of the word?

  HIEREUS: Tau, the letter of Saturn, ruling the Path of Malkuth to Yesod, linked to earth.

  2ND AD: Honoured Hegemon, what know you of the word?

  HEG: Resh, the letter of Sol, of the Path joining Yesod to Hod, and it is also the letter linked with rule over air as the sun ruleth the air in Tiphareth.

  2ND AD: Very honoured Third Adept, what know you of the word?

  3RD AD: Peh, the letter of Mars, of the Path joining Hod to Netzach, which is also a letter linked to water, as Mars ruleth water, and to fire, as Mars ruleth fire in Geburah.

  2ND AD: Mars in Peh linketh the base of the black pillar to the base of the white pillar, and the converse of Mars is Jupiter—for Jupiter is lord of fire, but in Chesed he ruleth water, balancing Mars in Geburah. Now, the letter of Jupiter is Kaph, linking Netzach with Chesed; and Kaph continueth the Path of Peh to Chesed, and is the highest Path now visible to you. It is the Path of aspiration and its planet Jupiter rules also in Sagittarius. Therefore, take the light of the highest for guide, and thus do I reveal the letter Kaph unto you and complete the word:

  3RD AD: Peh (Knocks, gives sign of water).

  HEG: Resh (Knocks, gives sign of air).

  2ND AD: Kap
h (Knocks, gives sign of fire).

  HIEREUS: Tau (Knocks, gives sign of earth).

  ALL: Paroketh (All make Qabalistic cross saying the words).

  PHIL: (Prompted by Third Adept) In the word Paroketh, in the power of the cross and the pentagram, I claim to behold the Portal of the Vault of the Adepti.

  CH. AD: (Unseen, sounds gong.) It is the word of the Veil, the Veil of the Tabernacle, of the temple, before the holy of holies, the Veil which was rent asunder. It is the Veil of the four elements of the body of man, which was offered upon the cross for the service of man. (Chief Adept stands.) In the word Phrath, in the spirit of service and sacrifice draw nigh.

  Second and Third Adepts stand at the Veil. Second shows Philosophus the opening sign.

  2ND AD: This is the Sign of the Rending of the Veil, and thus standing, you form the Tau cross.

  Philosophus gives the sign. Second and Third Adepts draw back Veil, revealing Chief Adept who stands also in the sign of Tau, with sceptre and white lamp. Second and Third Adepts and Philosophus mount dais. Philosophus if able should stand in sign during offering ritual. Lights turned up. Hiereus and Hegemon stand behind Philosophus, who is between the pillars—Second Adept is to the south and Third Adept to the north.

  CH. AD: Freely and of full purpose and with understanding do you offer yourself upon the altar of the spirit?

  PHIL: I do.

  As they say their words, Hiereus and Hegemon ascend dais to drop their emblems into the brazier. Each officer makes his grade sign as he does so. Chief Adept makes appropriate pentagrams holding up white lamp.

  HIEREUS: In the letter Tau. (Drops salt into brazier.)