06-05-2020, 04:08 PM
(06-05-2020, 01:14 PM)Aion Wrote: My understanding that the LBRP as the Ra contact group practiced it was personalized and so would not link up to the egregore of the Golden Dawn. It wouldn't be the right phone number, as it were.
You can have an initiatory experience without it being within a specific tradition. I don't believe Don was "initiated in to the Golden Dawn" by meditation, that is not how the Golden Dawn works to my understanding. Rather, Don himself had an initiatory experience by which he advanced on his path towards adepthood perhaps aided through use of elements of the Golden Dawn system. (Again reminding that Regardie was actually Stella Matutina)
To some eyes there may appear to be no difference, but actually this kind of specificity is part and parcel of the Golden Dawn system I think. You can advance with ceremonial magic without necessarily connecting directly up to the egregore of a tradition.
The point that Ra makes that it is well to work with a group is actually what I think they were reflecting, as that is a principle also held by GD. Without fraternity, there is no GD.
To the point of the Ipsissimus, I would echo what Spaced said. It's true that GD generally doesn't considered the Supernals attainable in physical form from what I've read, and that was a belief pushed by Crowley through Thelema.
To add some context to that quote:
Quote:44.15 Questioner: Well, does the left-hand path of this represent the service-to-self path more and the right-hand path the service-to-others?
Ra: I am Ra. This will be the last full query of this working.
This is incorrect. These stations are relationships. Each path has these relationships offered. The intent of the practitioner in working with these powerful concepts determines the polarity of the working. The tools are the tools.
44.16 Questioner: As an ending question I will just ask is it possible, then, for the ipsissimus to have either positive or negative polarity, or must he be neither?
Ra: I am Ra. We shall respond to the meaning of this term in a specialized sense. The ipsissimus is one who has mastered the Tree of Life and has used this mastery for negative polarization.
Is there any brief query which we may respond to as we take leave of this instrument?
In the question preceding Don was asking about the left and the right hand paths. I have pondered over this passage myself for the same reason and I've come to the conclusion that Ra is always trying to communicate in terms of what is on the groups' mind. Earlier in this session Don was asking about signals and why he was able to receive negative ones. I have come to believe that Don had a bit of a pre-occupation with negativity and for this reason I think that when Don was asking this question I think he was asking in relation to Thelema.
Don actually mentions Crowley in a way earlier session (18) so clearly he is familiar with him and his works.
However, I have considered a more esoteric reasoning being that Ra is also aware that the Golden Dawn would not consider that and so answered directly to the point. Don was talking about a person being an ipsissimus and I think this immediately points to Thelemic thought.
Also, good observation that the opposites are drawn together, this is indeed the case and actually anybody pursuing either path of magic should be prepared to face their opposites.
Golden Dawn magic does not practice bidding, again this is a Thelemic practice and actually one which Crowley is known for introducing. Golden Dawn is theurgic, it works through communion.
I agree with pretty much everything you said. One issue I disagree with is the specificity required for linking up to an egregore. I would actually not call the linking of energies with a specific tradition an egregor, as my understanding is that an egregore is more generally associated with the practice space itself. The repetition of the ritual links to a similar energy which is more like a global or universal thought form. I am not certain of the specificity needed to connect as each of the individual names also have their own power that has accumulated over time. So any Banishing Pentagram ritual taps into the energies of the pentagram and the directions for banishing, the names of god are also linking to their own energies, the angels, etc. The the ritual itself also connects to a thought form energy.
I am not as familiar with the differences in the Stella Mautina, AO, and other organizations. I do know Crowley used a lot of Golden Dawn material as a basis for Thelema but I have never studied any of his works. I know there is a book of published higher grade material but I cannot recall the highest grade for sure. I want to say it is 7=3.
The Lesser Key of Solomon and the Sacred Magic of Abramelin are both books on bidding and were translated by Mathers. They do not appear in official coursework of the Golden Dawn but the order members almost certainly also experimented with this angle, as they did almost every other angle they could think of.
I don't think the GD is negative by any means, I do think that they created a system which allows for polarization in either direction. I always found the Ippsisimus comment odd as the literature does not give that impression. I agree that Ra would often answer a deeper question that what was asked physically and the link with Thelema might explain this.