Greg Stanton
I think it would be an over-simplification to state that the "Hermetic" in "The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn" was an "in-name-only" designation. It is true that the basis of much of the Golden Dawn's material came from a contemporaneously-discovered cache of magical papyri, of which the 1853 publication of "Fragment of a Graeco-Egyptian Work Upon Magic" was a part. (It is interesting to note that this book is the source of "The Bornless Ritual" -- though revised by Crowley to suit his own purposes, many suppose it to be invented by him). However, as this information was new at the time it was introduced, it required extensive study and interpretation by scholars before it could actually be understood. In other words, true Hermeticism was not fully understood at the time the order was established -- and all of the misconceptions, mistranslations, and misunderstood precepts found their way into the order's teachings.Abrac said:
The other source of material for the order was Barrett's "Magus". This book is a truncated, plagiarized version of Agrippa's "Three Books of Occult Philosophy". Needless to say, the errors in Barrett's were also integrated into the Golden Dawn system.
Thirdly, the Kabbala the order taught was a Christianized version that evolved out of Renaissance Christian Neopatonism, which was the version most familiar to Europeans at the time -- not authentic Jewish Kaballa at all. Add to this the misguided conception of "Kabbalistic Correspondences", the idea that every disparate mythology, system of magical thought, culture, science and philosophy can be boiled down and reduced to a common, albeit synthetic, structure. This view of the world was thought to explain the hidden meanings in many symbols, and thus increase our understanding of Esoteric precepts. This idea, unfortunately, been much misunderstood, and now serves only to narrow the Western occultists' relationship with reality -- disparate subjects must be viewed and studied as they are, as they truly exist; not how they may or may not relate to one another in a singularly accepted system of correspondences.
Lastly, the rest of the Golden Dawn/Crowley systems were derived from various grimoires (translated by Mathers) and the work of John Dee. Because of this magical hodpodge, and the 777/Kabbala Correspondence distillery, it is now commonly believed that these various works are somehow compatible with one another and with modern views and magical techniques. They are not, and judging from the results, most certainly do not seem to be. In my opinion, if the magic contained within these books is to have a fighting chance of manifesting tangible product, they must be approached as singular, exclusive magical methods, whose instructions must be followed explicitly in order to achieve results. Crowley's inclusion of the Bornless Ritual in the Goetia is nothing more than misguided magical postmodernism, and his claim that the spirits of the Goetia are actually part of the human brain is absurd (not to mention fatal to the operation). It is these sorts of errors and pitfalls that virtually guarantee failure, and that plague the bulk of Western occult thought today.
A student of Crowley will approach a magical operation with the wrong attitude. His wand will be of many colors, all with supposed Kabbalistic significance -- never mind that such a wand is not proscribed in any of the source material from which he is working, or that Kabbalah in general is not a component of Goetic magic. His altar will, likewise, be shrouded with objects and colors that correspond to his intent. The sigil of the entity to be evoked is drawn in colored ink, with a consecrated Sharpee!, on parchment-like paper bought from Office Depot. Tarot cards are now commonly used as magical tools (it doesn't matter that the students of the original Goetia, or the Book of Abramelin, considered Tarrochi to be nothing more than common gambling). The LBRP is performed, the watchtowers are called (looking now through the Peterson scholarly edition of the Goetia..., Skinner's Goetia of Dr. Rudd... hmmm. No watchtowers or LRBP mentioned.) The circle of art will not be drawn on the ground, but will be imagined to be there, in a shimmering fire! That should be enough protection... The incense used, the oil, all will made according to Mathers' mistraslation of Abramelin, or perhaps bought off the shelf from the local Wicca supply-house. And the modern student of the occult, of the Golden Dawn and Crowley specifically, wonders why the entities he has called never show up.
I've heard it all before.
"The rite was a great success. We called XXXXXXX, and he came!"
"Really? Tell me about it."
"There were weird shadows in the corners of the room, and the candles flickered."
"Anything else?"
"Well, my toilet exploded right after, so I had to call a plumber out."
This type of criteria is now considered the standard for magical success. And we have Crowley and the Golden Dawn to thank for these wonderful boons, for these great gifts they have bestowed upon us, and the sublime influence they have exerted over the New Age.
I worked very hard, for a good portion of my life, to make these systems work. As you can see, I've done considerable research to discover why they do not. I can't not speak out about what I've learned -- and I realize it may upset a lot of people here. All said, after the storm, I only wish the best for everyone, whatever path they have choosen to take.
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