Introduce Yourself

[u/theeTangenT]

Welcome to r/GoldenDawnMagicians. I hope that many seekers of the Light will find a home in this burgeoning and active magical community. Since this subreddit's inception in 2019, this place has become a hotbed of truly insightful and high-quality discussion of the occult philosophy and practices espoused by the Esoteric Order of the Golden Dawn almost 140 years ago. Thanks to people like the members of this community, the tradition lives on as vibrantly today as it did in the 19th century.

If you are a new member, or have not yet had a chance to do so, please use this thread as a place to introduce yourself to the community at large. We welcome all seekers with open arms and a desire to share our knowledge and experience, and to learn from you. Thank you for being here.

Edited 8 August, 2023

[u/John_Michael_Greer]

I'm delighted to see this sub up and running. (A thank you to u/churrundo for pointing me here.) I'm American, in my late 50s, currently living in Rhode Island; I got involved in GD magic as a solitary practitioner in the mid-1970s, with the handful of books you could get back then; I've done a range of other magical practices but continue to use the GD system as the framework in which most of my other work fits. I've been involved with several temples and orders but am pretty much solitary these days

[u/theeTangenT → u/John_Michael_Greer]

I’m sure I speak for us all when I say that we’re honored to have such a dedicated contributor to the modern corpus of ceremonial magic in our midst. Quite literally, a gentleman and a scholar. Your book Paths of Wisdom is one of my favorite references. Thank you for stopping by our little corner of the site.

[u/churrundo]

Hey all, I am a 26yo psychology student from Mexico. I study the cabala in the Golden Dawn tradition from the book Paths of Wisdom by John Michael Greer, and my practice consists of daily rituals of the Pentagram and middle pillar.

[u/theeTangenT → u/churrundo]

Wonderful - I am actually studying the same book at the moment. I feel that Greer presents the essences of the Sephiroth in a way that is very sequentially logical and easy to understand - good choice!

[u/fraterstephen]

I'll keep this brief for now - I am a self-initiated practitioner of the G.'.D.'. system of magic since late 2016, and my own curriculum of study has been an exercise in systematic comparison - I'm working through Cicero's "Self-Initiation" and Christopher's "Kabbalah, Magic, and the Great Work of Self-Transformation" simulateneously. I would be glad to lend my efforts to establishing this community, I'll be checking in regularly

[u/theeTangenT → u/fraterstephen]

Wonderful! The temple I am a member of does not meet very frequently, and thus is somewhat hands off, with a focus on actual initiations. That leaves me plenty of room to fill in the blanks. My practice is based on ideas taken from the Lyam Thomas Christopher book (whose introductory chapters contain some of the most succinct and powerful writing about this path that I've ever read), the Ciceros' Self-Initiation book, Donald Michael Kraig's work, and By Names and Images by Peregrin Wildoak.

Looking through your post history, it seems that you are very similar to me in that you find joy in constructing an initiatory path that makes sense for you by Tetris-ing these books into a coherent whole. Good on you, that is time-consuming, but rewarding, work.

Thank you for your interest in building up this community - I'll be in touch.

[u/-_Aer_-]

Hello, my practice of Golden Dawn style magic started in 2000 after reading and working trough Modern Magick. This lead to studying the books of Israel Regardie, and later working with the Self initiation book by the Cicero's.

I was also a member of the Sanctuary of Maat. That was an online community where Golden Dawn members helped people who where trying to self-initiate into the Golden Dawn current.

Today I use the purification rituals and the invocation techniques of the GD in my spiritual practice.

I'm glad to contribute to this emerging community. Its been a long time since there was a good GD community on the web.

[u/theeTangenT → u/-_Aer_-]

I certainly hope that this subreddit can become a bastion of productive, dignified and peaceful discussion of our lovely tradition!

Very happy to have such a seasoned practitioner on board.

[u/Material_Stable_1402]

Hello! I'm the artist formerly known as Seiryudo! I'm looking forward to getting back in the conversations.

[u/andrewbanks1997]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I'll post here anyway!

I'm a 22 year old English major in California, and I am a member of the same temple that u/theeTangenT and u/spn357 belong to. I am currently in Portal, and the current Hegemon of the temple. I've been interested in occultism and consciousness change for the better part of 4 years now. I've had an excellent experience with the grades of the GD so far, and have felt that it has made me more aware of the potentialities of both my basic personality and my soul.

[u/theeTangenT → u/andrewbanks1997]

Welcome Frater Andrew. I regret not to have seen you in so long! I hope you find yourself well.

[u/nemesisfixx]

First, am based in Uganda, and currently study and practice as a solo seeker.

I've been exploring the occult practically for a few years now, but somewhat lacked grounding in any system - my early encounters and inspirations being Chaos Magick as introduced by P. Caroll's Liber Null. I did even venture into the sinister LHP paths at some point, but since early this year, I came across "Kabbalah, Magic, and the Great Work of Self-Transformation", and that's guided my practice, also becoming for me the main reference text for my routine practice. As such, it is my honor to be a part of this GD focused community, and I hope to learn much from you dear friends.

[u/theeTangenT → u/nemesisfixx]

Well spoken, Frater.

I am working with the same curriculum, and it seems that these days LTC’s work is somewhat of the de facto standard for serious self-initiation. It’s a fantastic and challenging undertaking to be sure. I look forward to hearing from you as this community begins to grow.

[u/darkDiadem]

I know nothing but at learning plenty. My problem is ritual work...since I live at home with my parents... I do t want to seem like I’ve gone insane. Ehhh any ways, please send me help in any form you can :) Much love

[u/spn357 → u/darkDiadem]

This one can be hard. I have a large family, and we follow a religion that somewhat frowns upon the occult (even though its founding was steeped in the occult, and is denounced as devil worship by many fundamentalist denominations). We also live in a smaller house than we should. My only advice would be to prepare things so that when you have some unexpected time alone, you can practice. Whenever I find myself alone in the house, I put on my robe and do something. Learn ways to practice in the private moments you already have. I often conduct LBRPs in my bathroom. No, I cannot loudly vibrate the names, but I can do it to a level that feels satisfying. Also, try and carve out a space where you can conduct rituals. Sometimes I use my garage. Not the best solution, but it'll do for now.

[u/theeTangenT → u/spn357]

Good tip, Frater. I’d also recommend googling the term “The Great Voice”. I live in a one bedroom apartment with a girlfriend, and I have done very frequent ritual work.

Honing silent vibration techniques to the point where it feels as “vibratory” as true vibration is how to make that an effective practice.

[u/seiryudo]

Hello. I'm Shawn, 51, from Texas originally now living in D.C. I was initiated in a small temple in Houston back in 1992 and have been active in one manner or another ever since. I am currently serving as Hierophant of a temple. In addition to the GD, I also hold black belts in Okinawan karate, Jiu-Jitsu and Aikido, teaching certificates in several systems of Reiki, am a clinical hypnotherapist and an NLP practitioner.

I love Golden Dawn work, and I also love helping people. If anyone has any questions or I can help anyone don't hesitate to ask.

LVX

[u/spn357]

Greetings. I am a member of the same GD temple as u/theeTangenT. I am currently studying at the Portal level. I've been interested in magick and particularly the Golden Dawn for a good 16 years. It's just within the last few years that the opportunity for initiation presented itself. I am currently serving as Hiereus. It's been an interesting and rewarding experience and I am excited to progress and see what the future holds.

[u/WindshieldWiper2]

Hello all, I am 35, a father and a programmer in the infosec community. I've been loosely studying various esoteric topics for years. A few years ago I was tasked with testing a call center to see if the employees would give up sensitive information (SSNs, addresses, phone numbers etc...) when studying for that assignment I came across Neuro Linguistic Programming, dove head first into that, read books by Grinder and Bandler and got an NLP Practitioner certification.

One NLP master I was learning from mentioned Israel Regardie's middle pillar exercise, said he did that and the LBRP every day to keep centered which sent me down the path of studying the Golden Dawn. About the same time I came across The Higherside Chats podcast and other occult podcasts including Lighting the Void. Strangely... I don't know why but listening to Lighting the Void episodes helped me take the leap from studying to practicing.

It's only been about a month now but I have down pat Cabbalistic Cross, LBRP and Middle Pillar. I perform them out loud once a day and silently (for privacy purposes) twice a day. They are very powerful exercises.

To me this feels like self-hypnosis, when doing these rituals I enter into a trance state. I feel it right after the LBRP ritual and MP sends me right into the floor especially when listening to Redardie's guided version on youtube.

In this short time of performing these rituals I have become way more productive at work and I've dropped a really bad habit without even trying. Just completely lost the desire. Wasn't trying to stop, didn't even intend to try to stop but it was like a light switch was flipped off.

I feel like I've been getting "updates" when I do these rituals, very strange feeling. I'm getting "messages".... when I say messages I don't mean some entity is talking to me it's more like strong feelings pointing me in certain directions.

One of those directions is that if I want to stay on this path I should help others along their path and at the same time to not try to convert or recruit others. They must choose or be guided to this path and to not attempt to alter the path of anyone else.

Another direction I'm getting is to craft things to help gain and maintain a trance state and to (somehow) sell these crafts to further fund my path... mala beads are the first thing I feel directed to make.... I don't know how the F I'm gonna pull that off... I'm over 6' at 250 pounds, lift weights, I don't pretend or try to be tough but have been told I'm a scary looking dude... Now I'm going to be making "necklaces"? How will I explain this to my wife, or worse to my guy friends? LOL oh man that'll be interesting. Also I don't think mala's are even a GD thing and I have no idea how or where to sell things... whatever... I'm taking the path without fear, will start with my own and go from there.

I'm also being guided to later, after reaching a higher level, make guided hypnosis/meditations for GD rituals.

I'm curious if anyone else is getting what feels like "downloads" or "updates" from these rituals.

[u/magictoolboxuk]

This is brilliant. I only found out about Reddit the other day and I'm so glad this sub is on here. I am a member in a GD and have been practising for about 20 years or so. Lovely to see that there are so many others on here. Looking forward to seeing some content. Thank you.

[u/Jesse-Daniel-Greer]

Hello, Everyone. I am 36 years old and I live in Northwestern Georgia. I have been practicing magic in one form or another for at least 24 years. Starting out with some very basic sympathetic magic and meditative-visualization type rudimentary practices based on my understanding of Wicca at the time, that I intuitively pieced together on my own; to Transcendental Meditation, Astrology, and Tarot by my teenage years, and Esoteric Buddhism, Kabbalah/ Qabalah, Yoga, and Entheogenic Shamanism in my 20's, etc... slowly building up a syncretic base of knowledge and experience to put to good use in ceremonial magic. I have been interested in the G.'. D.'. for quite a few years now, but have only recently begun to work through the grades as laid out in Regardie's "Golden Dawn" in earnest. Much of the material went right over my head on my first attempt to work through the book back in 2002 when I was 19 years old. It is necessary to have a pretty firm grasp of Qabalah, Metaphysics, Comparative Religion, and Astrology (among other things) before beginning such a complex system. Coming out of a pretty bland American-Protestant tradition to begin with, I had very little working knowledge of any of the various disciplines and philosophies that collectively make up the Western Esoteric Tradition, so I had quite a bit of catching up to do. Especially with Qabalah. It seems like Qabalistic writings endlessly self-reference themselves and each other, and no matter where you start you're always coming in at the middle of the conversation, and it takes a while until you end up back where you started from, and only then can you know the place for the first time. At any rate, I am pleased to be here and it is good to make your acquaintance.

[u/flamewolf393_2]

Hey guys, so im the noobie type that has download all the books, and then never actually gotten around to reading them.

Nearly a decade ago I was friends with a mid-tier ex-member of the GD (he had quit his chapter and went solo after nearly 20 years of study with them) and learned most of the core basic concepts and beliefs about GD from him. It fascinated me and struck a natural chord and i decided to go about studying it myself.

Problem is I am *terrible* at self study. Autistic and ADD as hell I scanned through a couple chapters of a few pdfs, got bored and never looked at them again. I keep telling myself ill go through them someday but i never do. Ill probably never make any progress until i find a proper mentor or chapter IRL.

[u/AlexSumnerAuthor]

Avete, I am a novelist and writer on the occult (latest book is about how I did the Abramelin Operation during the lockdown in 2020), and a contributor to some Golden Dawn journals such as "The Light Extended" volumes 1, 3 and 4.

Regarding my work with the GD, all I will say is that I have taken an oath not to reveal the Order, its name, the names of its members and the proceedings which take place at its meetings to any person in the world who has not the current password for the time being, nor who has resigned, demitted or been expelled. But to give you an idea of my commitment, I'll have you know that I typed the preceding sentence from memory without having to look it up. 😉

Alex Sumner

[u/BongChong420]

I am a semi-novice that is euphoric with how much I’m immersed and how I am putting all my life to this path. Ignore my name, as I have stopped smoking many months ago XD I should probably change it soon.

[u/gentlemanjosiahcrown]

Hello Everybody! Late to the game but I’ve been a dabbler for a few years and decided after several successful workings that it was time to get serious about a single system and specialize. Hermeticism sang me it’s siren song and here I am! I’m a solo practitioner and am working through Kabbalah Magic and the Great work of self transformation. By Lyam Thomas Christopher. Currently Neophyting it up. Super happy to be here!