The Rose Cross Ritual

smw

I still wonder why Regardie included the Rose Cross ritual in the One Year Manual without some form of banishing as a preliminary. The R.C. ritual is essentially an invocation. Without some sort of clearing rite prior to it's performance it's kind of like the magical equivalent of eating freshly cooked food off a dirty plate.

at step 5 before he comes to the Rosy Cross ritual (step 7) he says

"the previous exercises should have resulted in the acquisition of some degree of peace and quiet. A sense of well being and inner assurance will arise from within. It is in the tranquillity and calmness now developed that permits, as it were, the mind to open up and receive the influx of the Holy Spirit."

perhaps this version of the RCR is in context within the 12 step programme as a balancing and purifying system in itself... it is kind of confusing though, especially as other accounts of the RCR are that it is a powerful ritual only given to those at 5:6 degree in the inner order of the Golden Dawn and not for novices, where the energies are too strong for those not ready.

He also uses an invocation from the bornless ritual, that (I think) Crowley uses in Liber LXV 'the heart girt with a Serpent 'and in Liber Samekh to invoke his HGA. hmm...
 

Aeon418

perhaps this version of the RCR is in context within the 12 step programme as a balancing and purifying system in itself... it is kind of confusing though, especially as other accounts of the RCR are that it is a powerful ritual only given to those at 5:6 degree in the inner order of the Golden Dawn and not for novices, where the energies are too strong for those not ready.
I don't buy it. You can work with any ritual at any stage. However within the context of graded training structures rituals are presented at certain points because they correspond symbolically. The G.D. 5=6 is merely the appropriate point to introduce the Christian themed Rose Cross ritual.

Within the Golden Dawn scheme the 5=6 is the stage were the aspirant actually begins to work. The grades prior to it are all formal grades consisting of ceremonial exposure to symbolism and memorization of information. No great attainment is implied because almost no work has been done beyond basic preparatory stuff. So the notion that the 'energies' might be too strong doesn't really stand up.
(To put it into perspective, Crowley's A.'.A.'. 1=10 grade basically begins at the same level as G.D. 5=6. Apart from the Neophyte ceremony, the previous G.D. grades were dismissed as a long winded parade of Mathers occult knowledge.)

He also uses an invocation from the bornless ritual, that (I think) Crowley uses in Liber LXV 'the heart girt with a Serpent 'and in Liber Samekh to invoke his HGA. hmm...
The original version uses the old aeon analysis of the keyword to link the ritual specifically with Tiphareth. I think Regardie substituted parts of the Bornless ritual to make it serve as a general invocation.
 

smw

Within the Golden Dawn scheme the 5=6 is the stage were the aspirant actually begins to work. The grades prior to it are all formal grades consisting of ceremonial exposure to symbolism and memorization of information. No great attainment is implied because almost no work has been done beyond basic preparatory stuff. So the notion that the 'energies' might be too strong doesn't really stand up.

ahh...thanks for the info, I guess you have to be careful when reading around the net for misunderstandings.