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Having being part of my Order, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, since its very inception in Sweden, and having observed the ongoing infightings inside of the Golden Dawn community since the late 1990’s and the subsequent and repeated attacks against the Alpha et Omega®, it is no surprise that one starts to see certain patterns. Since I started my blogging, expressing my honest opinions, I have been caught up right in the middle of this conflict – which I prefer to call the War of the Roses (as that designation has certain poetic aesthetics attached to it) – and especially so since I wrote my reviews against a certain book. But even before that I have been silently observing this ongoing war since its inception with the founding of the first Swedish Temple. Considering this I believe that I am quite qualified to make certain observations and diagnosis.
One such pattern I have brought to the fore with my two latest blog posts on Scholarly pretensions against the Secret Chiefs and the follow-up or Reply to Nick Farrell’s false allegations agains the Alpha et Omega®, which delineates the perhaps most pertinent pattern or reason behind the current surge of strife in the community. I am referring to the contest between the two fundamentally different outlooks upon the tradition and its origins, which I have chosen to call Traditionalism on one side of the gulf and Post-modernism on the other, the latter term which I prefer to use today instead of the earlier designation “Reconstructionism”. I believe I managed to capture these two sides of the current polemic quite well (or at least I hope I did) on my blogpost entitled Do you want to take the blue pill or the red pill?
I believe much has already been said regarding this dichotomy. But I would like to point out that the recurring rhetoric from the post-modernist camp against the Traditionalist stance is that the latter is accused of creating bogus claims and trying to dupe the pubic with lies about hidden![]()
Masters, fabricated or mythical histories and fancy claims of esoteric secrets, etc. I on the other hand, as a professed Traditionlist, hold that the initiates of the post-modernist Orders are not bogus at all, and in most cases not deceitful; on the contrary I believe them to be prudent and very sincere in their efforts.
However, I likewise hold that the post-modern initiates are ignorant of the greater picture of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, being primarily spoon fed on published English literature, supplemented by some scattered fragments of old hand copied manuscripts, disjointed lineages and personal reminiscences taken as an definitive oral tradition. Lacking the initiatic understanding of these matters the reactions from the post-modernist faction is quite understandable. I am personally reluctant to hold their opinions against them, although they show traits of arrogance. To be honest, hadn’t I known what I do know today I would have taken the same position as they do. But I do know some facts, not much but enough to understand that what the community at large do know regarding our beautiful tradition of Rosicrucianism in general and the Golden Dawn in particular, only is the tip of the iceberg.
One other such pattern that I would like to bring up today is a matter completely different though, or at least not naturally connected to the above ideological differences. It has more to do with genealogy.
Is it only a chance that the three most zealous detractors and loudest voices from the post-modernist camp against the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® all have a relationship with the old Whare Ra Temple in New Zealand? Is it a pure coincidence that all of them either have lived in New Zealand or Australia, or at least have lived in any of these countries for a time period? Is it a random luck that all of them claim to have been taught by or had communication with eldery Whare Ra Adepts?
So, it seems that we have that old ghost stemming from the original conflict between R.W. Felkin and his Stella Matutina and S.L. MacGregor Mathers and his Alpha et Omega still being at work here, more than 111 years after the first eruption of strife. Can it be that both camps are still being seized by this old ghost; or rather that the old feelings of resentment and competition in Felkin’s psyche against MacGregor Mathers (which becomes quite obvious in reading A.E. Waites Ordo R.R. et A.C.) is still holding its grasp on the next generation of Whare Ra champions? Perhaps it’s not about a conscious jealousy but rather an unconscious curse which still haunts the said proponents of the New![]()
Zealand current?
But it doesn’t have to be in this way, at all. This feeling of competition with the next generation of Alpha et Omega initiates is unnecessary. It is as ill adviced as it is destructive for the greater community. It should end right now! Let me give you a good reason as to why: There is an important detail that have been overlooked.
The research of Tony Fuller has shown us verifiable evidence that the currents of the Alpha et Omega and Stella Matutina re-merged during the 1950’s in a joint effort at the last remaining Golden Dawn Temple in England, the Hermes Temple in Bristol. It also used a common superstructure with the Solar Order (Cromlech Temple), which had initiated this unifying tendency prior to that of the Hermes Temple. I wrote about this essential part of G∴D∴ history almost four years ago in my blog post entigled The amity of Alpha et Omega and Stella Matutina. In that post I briefly mentioned for the first time one occurrence with important implications that I would like to share with you here again:
In the late 1990’s, I was told by my teachers that S.L. MacGregor Mathers (as a representative of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega), R.W. Felkin (as a representative of the Stella Matutina) and A.E. Waite (as a representative of the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn) arranged a meeting in which they mutually recognized each others currents as equally legitimate continuations of the original (pre-1900) Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They shook hands and ended all strife there and then as brethren in the work, and went their different ways.
As I was told this story as a part of an oral tradition I cannot verify its historical accuracy. But it is a neat idea nevertheless. It has a great potential as an image, even if it is based upon rumour or pure fabrication. It has the power and potential of healing our community. So please let us hold that image in our minds for a while.
It says that regardless from where we draw our anscestry and lineage, be it from MacGregor Mathers, be it from R.W. Felkin or be it from A.E. Waite, we are equally valid as vehicles and currents to transmit the Golden Dawn Tradition to a new generation of initiates. Where we do differ is how we have chosen to develop our higher grades mysteries; some of us has developed it ourselves from whatever we may have gathered of the existing material and oral traditions of aged Adepts that we possess. Others of us have made contact with the source of the Tradition, both the G∴D∴ and the R+C, and feel perfectly satisfied with any guidance that we might have received through this communication.
As the greatest contestation has lied between the A∴O∴ and S∴M∴ it is reassuring to know that at least this supposed historical amity between these two G∴D∴ currents is founded on factual events. We should all draw inspiration from our ancestors and make them proud again! This is crucial especially today as the tone of the polemic is deteriorating rapidly on all accounts, on both sides. The latest tactics against the Alpha et Omega® is autotomy, or the severing of a member from the body in an “effort” to save the latter.
This latest strategy of only blaming one side in this conflict (the “evil empire” syndrome) for all dissonance is both unhealthy and non-constructive. I have seen this autotomian behavious in the past couple of years, and lately it has gained momentum amongst the said three representatives of the New![]()
Zealand current. If you want to have harmony in the community you cannot cut off half of it and demonise it into oblivion. You cannot in one sentence state that one entire faction aren’t part of the Golden Dawn community, or constitutes the bad apples in the basket, and in the next pretend that everyone else gets well along in the community. It doesn’t work in that way. It is a lie, or at least a delusion. It is also fruitless. It is highly arrogant. It shows lack of compassion above else. As I said in my previous post, there are hundreds and hundreds of initiates within the sacred Halls of the Alpha et Omega® which are silently doing their best, and a great effort at that, in bettering themselves in the microcosm and in the macrocosm. They all consider themselves being part of the Golden Dawn community, and rightly so. No one has the right to exlude them from it.
I pity these loudmouths of the community which keep on injecting poison into it through their misguided loyalty towards the Whare Ra Temple and the Stella Matutina in fear of the boogeyman. They have absolutely nothing to fear from the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®. I personally greatly respect all of these currents stemming from MacGregor Mathers, Felkin and Waite. They have all contributed important teachings to the modern Golden Dawn Tradition which are now part and parcel of it, regardless of faction. There is no need for animosity between these currents, especially between the followers of Felkin and MacGregor Mathers. It is futile.
Let us simply agree to disagree between our respective Traditionalist and Post-modernist stances. There is room for many different flavours and colours of Roses in the bouquet! There is absolutely no need to agree on the topic of the Secret Chiefs to have a harmony in the community. But by labelling the Alpha et Omega as bogus impostors in our claim of a Third Order contact and guidance, you are effectively fuelling the disruptive and Qlippotic forces within the community. So I urge you to stop doing that, for the sake of the greater community.
S∴R∴
Having being part of my Order, the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®, since its very inception in Sweden, and having observed the ongoing infightings inside of the Golden Dawn community since the late 1990’s and the subsequent and repeated attacks against the Alpha et Omega®, it is no surprise that one starts to see certain patterns. Since I started my blogging, expressing my honest opinions, I have been caught up right in the middle of this conflict – which I prefer to call the War of the Roses (as that designation has certain poetic aesthetics attached to it) – and especially so since I wrote my reviews against a certain book. But even before that I have been silently observing this ongoing war since its inception with the founding of the first Swedish Temple. Considering this I believe that I am quite qualified to make certain observations and diagnosis.
One such pattern I have brought to the fore with my two latest blog posts on Scholarly pretensions against the Secret Chiefs and the follow-up or Reply to Nick Farrell’s false allegations agains the Alpha et Omega®, which delineates the perhaps most pertinent pattern or reason behind the current surge of strife in the community. I am referring to the contest between the two fundamentally different outlooks upon the tradition and its origins, which I have chosen to call Traditionalism on one side of the gulf and Post-modernism on the other, the latter term which I prefer to use today instead of the earlier designation “Reconstructionism”. I believe I managed to capture these two sides of the current polemic quite well (or at least I hope I did) on my blogpost entitled Do you want to take the blue pill or the red pill?
I believe much has already been said regarding this dichotomy. But I would like to point out that the recurring rhetoric from the post-modernist camp against the Traditionalist stance is that the latter is accused of creating bogus claims and trying to dupe the pubic with lies about hidden
Masters, fabricated or mythical histories and fancy claims of esoteric secrets, etc. I on the other hand, as a professed Traditionlist, hold that the initiates of the post-modernist Orders are not bogus at all, and in most cases not deceitful; on the contrary I believe them to be prudent and very sincere in their efforts.However, I likewise hold that the post-modern initiates are ignorant of the greater picture of the Hermetic and Rosicrucian traditions, being primarily spoon fed on published English literature, supplemented by some scattered fragments of old hand copied manuscripts, disjointed lineages and personal reminiscences taken as an definitive oral tradition. Lacking the initiatic understanding of these matters the reactions from the post-modernist faction is quite understandable. I am personally reluctant to hold their opinions against them, although they show traits of arrogance. To be honest, hadn’t I known what I do know today I would have taken the same position as they do. But I do know some facts, not much but enough to understand that what the community at large do know regarding our beautiful tradition of Rosicrucianism in general and the Golden Dawn in particular, only is the tip of the iceberg.
One other such pattern that I would like to bring up today is a matter completely different though, or at least not naturally connected to the above ideological differences. It has more to do with genealogy.
Is it only a chance that the three most zealous detractors and loudest voices from the post-modernist camp against the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega® all have a relationship with the old Whare Ra Temple in New Zealand? Is it a pure coincidence that all of them either have lived in New Zealand or Australia, or at least have lived in any of these countries for a time period? Is it a random luck that all of them claim to have been taught by or had communication with eldery Whare Ra Adepts?
So, it seems that we have that old ghost stemming from the original conflict between R.W. Felkin and his Stella Matutina and S.L. MacGregor Mathers and his Alpha et Omega still being at work here, more than 111 years after the first eruption of strife. Can it be that both camps are still being seized by this old ghost; or rather that the old feelings of resentment and competition in Felkin’s psyche against MacGregor Mathers (which becomes quite obvious in reading A.E. Waites Ordo R.R. et A.C.) is still holding its grasp on the next generation of Whare Ra champions? Perhaps it’s not about a conscious jealousy but rather an unconscious curse which still haunts the said proponents of the New
Zealand current?But it doesn’t have to be in this way, at all. This feeling of competition with the next generation of Alpha et Omega initiates is unnecessary. It is as ill adviced as it is destructive for the greater community. It should end right now! Let me give you a good reason as to why: There is an important detail that have been overlooked.
The research of Tony Fuller has shown us verifiable evidence that the currents of the Alpha et Omega and Stella Matutina re-merged during the 1950’s in a joint effort at the last remaining Golden Dawn Temple in England, the Hermes Temple in Bristol. It also used a common superstructure with the Solar Order (Cromlech Temple), which had initiated this unifying tendency prior to that of the Hermes Temple. I wrote about this essential part of G∴D∴ history almost four years ago in my blog post entigled The amity of Alpha et Omega and Stella Matutina. In that post I briefly mentioned for the first time one occurrence with important implications that I would like to share with you here again:
In the late 1990’s, I was told by my teachers that S.L. MacGregor Mathers (as a representative of the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega), R.W. Felkin (as a representative of the Stella Matutina) and A.E. Waite (as a representative of the Holy Order of the Golden Dawn) arranged a meeting in which they mutually recognized each others currents as equally legitimate continuations of the original (pre-1900) Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. They shook hands and ended all strife there and then as brethren in the work, and went their different ways.
As I was told this story as a part of an oral tradition I cannot verify its historical accuracy. But it is a neat idea nevertheless. It has a great potential as an image, even if it is based upon rumour or pure fabrication. It has the power and potential of healing our community. So please let us hold that image in our minds for a while.
It says that regardless from where we draw our anscestry and lineage, be it from MacGregor Mathers, be it from R.W. Felkin or be it from A.E. Waite, we are equally valid as vehicles and currents to transmit the Golden Dawn Tradition to a new generation of initiates. Where we do differ is how we have chosen to develop our higher grades mysteries; some of us has developed it ourselves from whatever we may have gathered of the existing material and oral traditions of aged Adepts that we possess. Others of us have made contact with the source of the Tradition, both the G∴D∴ and the R+C, and feel perfectly satisfied with any guidance that we might have received through this communication.
As the greatest contestation has lied between the A∴O∴ and S∴M∴ it is reassuring to know that at least this supposed historical amity between these two G∴D∴ currents is founded on factual events. We should all draw inspiration from our ancestors and make them proud again! This is crucial especially today as the tone of the polemic is deteriorating rapidly on all accounts, on both sides. The latest tactics against the Alpha et Omega® is autotomy, or the severing of a member from the body in an “effort” to save the latter.
This latest strategy of only blaming one side in this conflict (the “evil empire” syndrome) for all dissonance is both unhealthy and non-constructive. I have seen this autotomian behavious in the past couple of years, and lately it has gained momentum amongst the said three representatives of the New
Zealand current. If you want to have harmony in the community you cannot cut off half of it and demonise it into oblivion. You cannot in one sentence state that one entire faction aren’t part of the Golden Dawn community, or constitutes the bad apples in the basket, and in the next pretend that everyone else gets well along in the community. It doesn’t work in that way. It is a lie, or at least a delusion. It is also fruitless. It is highly arrogant. It shows lack of compassion above else. As I said in my previous post, there are hundreds and hundreds of initiates within the sacred Halls of the Alpha et Omega® which are silently doing their best, and a great effort at that, in bettering themselves in the microcosm and in the macrocosm. They all consider themselves being part of the Golden Dawn community, and rightly so. No one has the right to exlude them from it.I pity these loudmouths of the community which keep on injecting poison into it through their misguided loyalty towards the Whare Ra Temple and the Stella Matutina in fear of the boogeyman. They have absolutely nothing to fear from the Rosicrucian Order of Alpha et Omega®. I personally greatly respect all of these currents stemming from MacGregor Mathers, Felkin and Waite. They have all contributed important teachings to the modern Golden Dawn Tradition which are now part and parcel of it, regardless of faction. There is no need for animosity between these currents, especially between the followers of Felkin and MacGregor Mathers. It is futile.
Let us simply agree to disagree between our respective Traditionalist and Post-modernist stances. There is room for many different flavours and colours of Roses in the bouquet! There is absolutely no need to agree on the topic of the Secret Chiefs to have a harmony in the community. But by labelling the Alpha et Omega as bogus impostors in our claim of a Third Order contact and guidance, you are effectively fuelling the disruptive and Qlippotic forces within the community. So I urge you to stop doing that, for the sake of the greater community.
S∴R∴