My opinion on the WMT is that its always been booked based. The original Jewish Kabbalah is booked based with the Zohar and this knowledge was then developed into a syncretic philosophy by Giovanni Mirandola. The majority of the Occult understandings we have in the west originate from Heinrich Agrippa a student of Mirandola's work. If we look at the Golden Dawn it seems to be based upon the personal research of freemasons/rosicrucians rather than any direct linage to an order. I don't believe a subject as fringe as the occult cant truly have any authority like some of these orders claim.
It is my belief that the study of the Kabbalah and Magic in the western tradition does not need to be done through an order but can be done by personal research and experimentation as this has been the way it has been developed since the original translations of mystical texts from antiquity in the middle ages. That being said i do think that an order can create a group mind effect which will allow perhaps for a greater success or quicker development, but surely the bulk of all spiritual work is done privately by ones self.
I see the Golden Dawn as simply the hard work and experimentation of a group of spiritual seekers. If we understand the basics of magic, in my understanding this can be said as the development and use of, the Will, Desire, imagination, polarity ,faith to create changes in consciousness in conformity with ones will in a way that is not commonly accepted by academic science.
The reason the Kabbalah seems to have been used from my research is that it becomes like a filing system or a coat hanger for all meta-knowledge and meta-data which can then be contemplated and practically used with various esoteric techniques which have been taken from spiritual practices from around the world.
Ra said that the basic work of the white magician is to develop visualization skills and the foundation was to still the mind in meditation. If we then look at this from a technical view point it be said that the simple practice of concentration on an subject such as the breath and then to use that development of will onto a desired goal or objective outcome would be a work of magic. You could say then that the single pointedness of coherency is the key. What starts out as desire becomes will which becomes faith which then is directed in the minds eye and the outcome is the polarization in consciousness towards the given service to others or self.
Now that i think about it, its nothing really more intensive than law of attraction. Its simply a more developed use of it. I just think it takes a life times or multi able incarnations for it to work rather than any over the top philosophy or hierarchical order.
It is my belief that the study of the Kabbalah and Magic in the western tradition does not need to be done through an order but can be done by personal research and experimentation as this has been the way it has been developed since the original translations of mystical texts from antiquity in the middle ages. That being said i do think that an order can create a group mind effect which will allow perhaps for a greater success or quicker development, but surely the bulk of all spiritual work is done privately by ones self.
I see the Golden Dawn as simply the hard work and experimentation of a group of spiritual seekers. If we understand the basics of magic, in my understanding this can be said as the development and use of, the Will, Desire, imagination, polarity ,faith to create changes in consciousness in conformity with ones will in a way that is not commonly accepted by academic science.
The reason the Kabbalah seems to have been used from my research is that it becomes like a filing system or a coat hanger for all meta-knowledge and meta-data which can then be contemplated and practically used with various esoteric techniques which have been taken from spiritual practices from around the world.
Ra said that the basic work of the white magician is to develop visualization skills and the foundation was to still the mind in meditation. If we then look at this from a technical view point it be said that the simple practice of concentration on an subject such as the breath and then to use that development of will onto a desired goal or objective outcome would be a work of magic. You could say then that the single pointedness of coherency is the key. What starts out as desire becomes will which becomes faith which then is directed in the minds eye and the outcome is the polarization in consciousness towards the given service to others or self.
Now that i think about it, its nothing really more intensive than law of attraction. Its simply a more developed use of it. I just think it takes a life times or multi able incarnations for it to work rather than any over the top philosophy or hierarchical order.