The Golden Dawn

by Israel Regardie

  So far as the writer is concerned, the section on divination never acquired much meaning, but it was thought advisable to retain it in the event that significance may be seen in it by others. As an example of the first stages of that mode of operation, there is given an experience recorded many years ago by G.H. Frater Sub Spe,29 and to some it may prove suggestive. The section on alchemy remains quite obscure since the subject does not interest me; and I regret that I have not been able to acquire a record of an operation based on it.30

  The Requiem Ritual is an original contribution, though based on fundamental formulae, and I hope it will be found useful.

  So far as the first sections on actual ceremonial magic are concerned a few remarks may seem appropriate. Let it be noted first of all that a formal circle and triangle are required only in that type of operation called evocation. It is preferable to paint the circle and divine names on the floor or on canvas, or on a neutral coloured sheet of linoleum so that the circle and names appear brilliant and clear cut. But for convenience’s sake, and for quicker working, it is useful to lay out a circle in coloured tapes. The colour naturally will depend on the nature of the ceremony. At the appropriate angles of quarters of this taped circle, pentacles or flashing tablets of the requisite divine names or symbols may be placed.

  The other ceremonies, consecration and invisibility for example, require no such device, for the performance of the Banishing Rituals of the Pentagram and Hexagram followed by the consecrations—either as in the Neophyte ceremony or as in the opening by watchtower—clears a space for working which is amply protected. This procedure suffices for most operations, though in evocation the greatest precautions and protections are necessary, and these are afforded by the presence of the circle and divine names.

  A great deal of attention should be paid to that part of the ceremony demanding the invocation of the higher. Success herein spells success for the entire ceremony. That is, there should be a clear consciousness of the presence of the divine force coursing through the operator. He should become aware of the awakening of a titanic force within him. It is an unmistakable sensation. So strong and powerful can this become that at times it may almost seem to be a physical one. If this invocation is slurred over or inconsequentially performed, then a great deal of power must be expended unnecessarily on the remaining parts of the ritual in order to redeem the entire operation from failure. And the operation would suffer from the disadvantage of having been effected by the human part of the magician, instead of by his own higher genius. If the vibratory formula of the Middle Pillar is very powerfully employed, using the name appropriate to the operation on hand, and if the force thus invoked is distributed throughout the sphere of sensation by the formulae of the mystic circumambulation—both of which are fully described in Z.1, Book Five—then the chances of success are great. It is imperative to stress this point for it is my belief that the greater number of the cases of failure in, let us say, evocation are due solely to hastening past this important stage to the actual and stated purpose of the ceremony. This haste causes failure. Failure brings about disappointment in the formula as a whole. This is why so little work has been done on this particular system of magic.

  In passing, may I say that before the vibratory formula of the Middle Pillar can be at all successfully employed, the student should have put in a great deal of work on the exercise called the formulation of the Middle Pillar. This exercise, described in the Portal paper reprinted in Part One and at great length in my book The Middle Pillar, awakens the magical centres in the psycho-spiritual make-up of the student. Needless to say, that without the power derived, directly or indirectly, from these Sephirotic centres or chakras, there can be no successful magic. When a certain amount of success has been obtained in this formulation, then the vibratory formula should be assiduously practised. Its results are salutary—and quite apart from the spiritual and psychic effect, which is that to be aimed at, its reaction incidentally on the physical health and vitality is so marked as almost to be miraculous.

  The two important adjuncts to success in ceremonial magic are briefly the godform and the vibration of the divine name. The assumption of the appropriate form of the Egyptian god—or the telesmatic image especially built up by the imagination based upon the signification of the letters of the name—and the powerful vibration of the name itself by the vibratory formula of the Middle Pillar are bound, if all other conditions are complied with, to yield salutary results. The symbolic godform held firmly in the imagination, the name vibrated with great force—then the subsequent invocations, and the gradual materialization or other manifestation of the force, require practically no effort. The most frequent mistake, and of course a natural one, is to concentrate upon the stated purpose of the operation.

  The type of invocation of the higher employed in most of the ceremonies shown here has no authority obtaining within the Order. It is fundamentally the result of my own spiritual bias. The higher invocations more usually employed within the Order approximate to the nature of ordinary prayers. These, for many reasons into which I do not wish to enter, do not please me.

  The procedure delineated above should of course be followed in all other types of ceremonial—for the consecration of flashing tablets and talismans; and especially in operations striving towards invisibility or transformation is the successful invocation of the divine force necessary.

  One final word as to these ceremonies. The student is not to assume that these operations in themselves are important. That is, from the spiritual point of view, the fact that the magician can attain invisibility or effect a transformation or a materialization is relatively unimportant. What does matter however, is that these operations comprise a discipline and a type of training which is almost indispensable in the serious labours of spiritual development. The student who has struggled with these formulae, and who has kept his aspiration to the divine keen and untarnished, has a disciplined and a powerful instrument at his command.

  Index for General Reference to the Enterer Ceremony

  of the 0° = 0 Grade

  1. A—The ceremony itself. The place of the temple.

  2. B—The Hierophant.

  3. C—The officers.

  4. D—The candidate.

  5. E—The ceremony of opening.

  6. F—Hierophant states that he has received a dispensation from Second Order, and commands Hegemon to prepare candidate. Candidate prepared. Speech of Hegemon.

  7. G—Admission of candidate. First barring by Kerux. First baptism of the candidate with water and fire.

  8. H—The candidate is conducted to the foot of the altar. Hierophant asks “Wherefore hast thou come,” etc. Candidate replies “I seek the hidden light,” etc.

  9. I—Candidate is asked whether he is willing to take the obligation. He assents and is instructed now to kneel at the altar.

  10. J—Administration of the obligation, and raising the Neophyte from the kneeling position.

  11. K—Candidate is placed in the north. Oration of the Hierophant, “The voice of my higher self,” etc. Hierophant commands the mystic circumambulation in the path of darkness.

  12. L—Procession. Candidate barred in south. Second baptism of water and fire. Speech of Hegemon. Allowing the candidate to proceed.

  13. M—Hoodwink slipped up. Challenge of Hiereus. Speech of Hegemon. Speech of Hiereus. Candidate re-veiled and passed on.

  14. N—Circumambulation. Barred in north. Third baptism. Speech of Hegemon allowing candidate to approach unto the gate of the east.

  15. O—Hoodwink slipped up for the second time. Hierophant challenges. Hegemon answers for candidate. Speech of Hierophant. Candidate passes on.

  16. P—Candidate led to west of altar. Hierophant advances by the Path of Samekh. Officers form the triangle. Prayer of Hierophant.

  17. Q—Candidate rises. Hierophant addresses him, “Long hast thou dwelt in darkness. Quit the night and seek the day.” Hoodwink finally removed. Sceptres and swords joi
ned. “We receive thee,” etc. Then the mystic words.

  18. R—Hierophant indicates lamp of Kerux. He commands that the candidate be conducted to the east of the altar. He orders Hiereus to bestow signs, etc. Hiereus places candidate between pillars. Signs and words. He orders the fourth and final consecration to take place.

  19. S—Hegemon removes rope and invests candidate with his insignia. Hiereus then ordains the mystic circumambulation in the path of light.

  20. T—Hierophant lectures on the symbols. Proclamation by Kerux.

  21. U—Hierophant commands Hiereus to address candidate.

  22. V—Hierophant addresses Neophyte on subject of study.

  23. W—Blood produced. Speech of Kerux. Hiereus’s final caution.

  24. X—The closing takes place.

  I.

  EVOCATION

  A—The magic circle.

  B—The magician, wearing the great lamen of the Hierophant and his scarlet robe. A pentacle, whereon is engraved the sigil of the spirit to be invoked, has painted on the back of it the circle and cross as shown on the Hierophant’s lamen.

  C—The names and formulae to be employed.

  D—The symbol of the whole evocation.

  E—The construction of the circle and the placing of all the symbols, etc., employed, in the places properly allotted to them, so as to represent the interior of a G.D. temple in the Enterer, and the purification and consecration of the actual piece of ground or place, selected for the performance of the evocation.

  F—The invocation of the higher powers. Pentacle formed of three concentric bands, name and sigil therein, in proper colours, is to be bound thrice with a cord, and shrouded in black, thus bringing into action a blind force to be further directed or differentiated in the process of the ceremony. Announcement aloud of the object of the working; naming the spirit or spirits, which it is desired to evoke. This is pronounced standing in the centre of the circle and turning towards the quarter from which the spirit will come.

  G—The name and sigil of the spirit, wrapped in a black cloth, or covering, is now placed within the circle, at the point corresponding to the west, representing the candidate. The consecration or baptism by water and fire of the sigil then takes place, and the proclamation in a loud and firm voice of the spirit (or spirits) to be evoked.

  H—The veiled sigil is now to be placed at the foot of the altar. The magician then calls aloud the name of the spirit, summoning him to appear, stating for what purpose the spirit is evoked, what is desired in the operation, why the evocation is performed at this time, and finally solemnly affirming that the spirit shall be evoked by the ceremony.

  I—Announcement aloud that all is prepared for the commencement of the actual evocation. If it be a good spirit the sigil is now to be placed within the white triangle on the altar, the magician places his left hand upon it, raises in his right hand the magical implement employed (usually the sword) erect; and commences the evocation of the spirit N. to visible appearance. The magician stands in the place of the Hierophant during the obligation, irrespective of the particular quarter of the spirit.

  But if the nature of that spirit be evil, then the sigil must be placed without and to the west of the white triangle and the magician shall be careful to keep the point of the magical sword upon the centre of the sigil.

  J—Now let the magician imagine himself as clothed outwardly with the semblance of the form of the spirit to be evoked, and in this let him be careful not to identify himself with the spirit, which would be dangerous; but only to formulate a species of mask, worn for the time being. And if he knows not the symbolic form of the spirit, then let him assume the form of an angel belonging unto the same class of operation, this form being assumed. Then let him pronounce aloud, with a firm and solemn voice, a convenient and potent oration and exorcism of the spirit unto visible appearance.

  At the conclusion of this exorcism, taking the covered sigil in his left hand, let him smite it thrice with the flat blade of the magic sword. Then let him raise on high his arms to their utmost stretch, holding in his left hand the veiled sigil, and in his right the sword of art erect, at the same time stamping thrice upon the ground with his right foot.

  K—The veiled and corded sigil is then to be placed in the northern part of the hall at the edge of the circle, and the magician employs the oration of the Hierophant, from the throne of the east, modifying it slightly, as follows: “The voice of the exorcism said unto me, ‘Let me shroud myself in darkness, peradventure thus may I manifest myself in light,’” etc. The magician then proclaims aloud that the mystic circumambulation will take place.

  L—The magician takes up the sigil in his left hand and circumambulates the magic circle once, then passes to the south and halts. He stands (having placed the sigil on the ground) between it and the west, and repeats the oration of the Kerux, and again consecrates it with water and fire. Then takes it in his hand, facing westward, saying, “Creature of … twice consecrate, thou mayest approach the gate of the west.”

  M—The magician now moves to the west of the magical circle, holds the sigil in his left hand and the sword in his right, faces southwest, and again astrally masks himself with the form of the spirit, and for the first time partially opens the covering of the sigil, without however entirely removing it. He then smites it once with the flat blade of the sword, saying, in a loud, clear, and firm voice: “Thou canst not pass from concealment unto manifestation, save by the virtue of the name Elohim. Before all things are the chaos and the darkness, and the gates of the land of night. I am he whose name is darkness. I am the great one of the path of the shades. I am the exorcist in the midst of the exorcism. Appear thou therefore without fear before me, so pass thou on.” He then reveils the sigil.

  N—Take the sigil to the north, circumambulating first, halt, place sigil on the ground, stand between it and the east, repeat the oration of the Kerux, again consecrate with fire and water. Then take it up, face north, and say “Creature of … , thrice consecrate, thou mayest approach the gate of the east.”

  O—Repeat Section M in northeast. Magician then passes to east, takes up sigil in left and sword in right hand. Assumes the mask of the spirit form, smites the sigil with the lotus wand or sword, and says, “Thou canst not pass from concealment unto manifestation save by virtue of the name YHVH. After the formless and the void and the darkness, then cometh the knowledge of the light. I am that light which riseth in the darkness. I am the exorcist in the midst of the exorcism. Appear thou therefore in visible form before me, for I am the wielder of the forces of the balance. Thou hast known me now, so pass thou on to the cubical altar of the universe!”

  P—He then recovers sigil and passes to altar, laying it thereon as before shown. He then passes to the east of the altar, holding the sigil and sword as already explained. Then doth he rehearse a most potent conjuration and invocation of the spirit unto visible appearance, using and reiterating all the divine, angelic, and magical names appropriate to this end, neither omitting the signs, seals, sigils, lineal figures, signatures, and the like from that conjuration.

  Q—The magician now elevates the covered sigil towards heaven, removes the Veil entirely, leaving it yet corded, crying with a loud voice, “Creature of … , long hast thou dwelt in darkness. Quit the night and seek the day.” He then replaces it upon the altar, holds the magical sword erect above it, the pommel immediately above the centre thereof, and says, “By all the names, powers, and rites already rehearsed, I conjure thee thus unto visible appearance.” Then the mystic words.

  R—Saith the magician, “As light hidden in the darkness can manifest therefrom, so shalt thou become manifest from concealment unto manifestation.”

  He then takes up the sigil, stands to east of altar, and faces west. He shall then rehearse a long conjuration to the powers and spirits immediately superior unto that one which he seeks to invoke, that they shall force him to manifest himself unto visible appearance.

  He then places the s
igil between the pillars, himself at the east facing west, then in the Sign of the Enterer doth he direct the whole current of his will upon the sigil. Thus he continueth until such time as he shall perceive his will power to be weakening, when he protects himself from the reflex of the current by the Sign of Silence, and drops his hands. He now looks towards the quarter that the spirit is to appear in, and he should now see the first signs of his visible manifestation. If he be not thus faintly visible, let the magician repeat the conjuration of the superiors of the spirit, from the place of the throne in the east. And this conjuration may be repeated thrice, each time ending with a new projection of will in the Sign of the Enterer, etc. But if at the third time of repetition he appeareth not, then be it known that there is an error in the working.

  So let the master of evocations replace the sigil upon the altar, holding the sword as usual: and thus doing, let him address a humble prayer unto the great gods of heaven to grant unto him the force necessary to correctly complete that evocation. He is then to take back the sigil to between the pillars, and repeat the former processes, when assuredly that spirit will begin to manifest, but in a misty and ill-defined form.

  (But if, as is probable, the operator be naturally inclined unto evocation, then might that spirit perchance manifest earlier in the ceremony than this. Still, the ceremony is to be performed up to this point, whether he be there or no.)