- Historical
roots of the Mysteries, and their evolution over the last
century under the influence of McGregor and Moina Mathers,
Aleister Crowley, Dion Fortune, Israel Regardie, William Gray
and other workers in this field.
-
The spiritual aims of the Hermetic system of Qabalah. Tarot
symbolism and its relationship to the Tree of Life.
- Colour,
words, visualisation, breath work and other methods of working
and meditating on the Tree.*
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Is
this group an offshoot of another order?
The
Hermetic Students group started as an independent organisation,
but maintains fraternal links with several existing orders and
fraternities. Its primary aims are to create a point of contact
with the Western Mysteries for newer aspirants, while constantly
exploring and expanding the knowledge it has inherited from
its spiritual forebears.*
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Does
this group offer initiation?
Initiation
is offered on an invitational basis, subject (in part) to completion
of a period of preparatory work.*
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Why
is magick stressed in this tradition?
Magick,
with its use of sound, symbol and ritual, is used in the Western
Mysteries as a means of uplifting individual consciousness and
shaping an inner shrine of light that becomes the concealed
sanctuary of a group of aspirants. Magick is as much a discipline
as learning to play an instrument or paint pictures and requires
extensive training and personal practice to be used effectively.*
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Why
are you using the Golden Dawn system?
This
system, developed in England between 1887 and 1900, was first
made public by Aleister Crowley in his periodical The Equinox
in the early 1900s, then more broadly published by Israel Regardie
in the mid-1930s. Since then, many people have worked with its
symbols and trained with its methods. Many students of the Hermetic
Qabalah accept and work with its symbol systems, which as a
result have acquired increased potency and depth over the years.
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What
is the Hermetic Qabalah as opposed to any other kind?
The
Qabalah is primarily a Jewish mystical system. It underwent
its strongest development during Medieval times, notably in
Spain and Germany, though it is still a vital tradition within
Judaism today. In the late 1400s, leading Christian scholars
and monks began to study the Qabalah quite intensely, and as
a result a Christianised version emerged.
At
the same time, the revived interest in classical Greek and Roman
learning that led to the Renaissance was introducing ancient
pagan ideas to the same circles of Christian mystical seekers.
They were exposed to ancient writings attributed to Thrice-Greatest
Hermes, Hermes Trismegistus, whom some began to revere as an
equal of Moses.
The
blending of these ancient, pre-Christian notions back into the
stream of mystical ideas led to the rise of a Hermetic version
of the Qabalah. This is at the core of the Golden Dawn system.*
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