born-a-magician

Would the Golden Dawn have received you as a Neophyte?

The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was founded in London in 1888. Its first ceremony, the admission of the Neophyte, was printed in 1909. Seven questions, beside that text.

The candidate waited outside, blindfolded and bound with a triple cord, and was asked one question before taking the obligation. This is what he was asked to promise. Answer for yourself; nothing is sent anywhere.

1. Are you looking for knowledge rather than for power or company?
“My soul is wandering in the Darkness seeking for the light of Occult Knowledge, and I believe that in this Order the Knowledge of that Light may be obtained.”
2. Would you walk in blindfolded and bound, not knowing what comes next?
His body is now surrounded by a triple cord to show the restriction of the powers of Nature […] His eyes are also bandaged, symbolising that the Light of the natural world is but as darkness compared with the radiance of the Light Divine.
3. Would you keep secret the order, its name and the names of its members?
He pledges himself to keep secret the Order, its name, and the names of the members, as well as the proceedings which take place at its meetings.
4. Would you stay on good terms with every member, including those you dislike?
To maintain kindly and benevolent relation with all the Fratres and Sorores of the Order.
5. Would you study the occult sciences steadily, as work and not as a pastime?
To prosecute with zeal and study the occult sciences.
6. Would you say yes to an obligation before hearing its terms?
The Hierophant asks the Candidate whether he is willing “in the presence of this assembly to take a great and solemn obligation to keep inviolate the secrets and mysteries of our Order?” To which the Candidate himself replies: “I am.”
7. Would you swear it under a penalty you believe in?
He then swears to observe the above under the awful penalty of submitting “myself to a deadly and hostile current of will set in motion by the chiefs of the Order, by which I should fall slain or paralyzed without visible weapon, as if blasted by the lightning flash!”

“The Temple of Solomon the King”, The Equinox, vol. I no. 2, London, 1909, describing the Neophyte ritual of the Order.

Where this comes from

The ceremony, step by step

The text of 1909 describes the whole grade. The hall is opened with the cry of the Eleusinian mysteries, “Hekas, Hekas, este, bebeloi!”, then with the Adoration: “Holy art Thou, Lord of the Universe!” The candidate waits outside, his body bound with a triple cord, his eyes bandaged. He is addressed as “Child of Earth”. Three times the herald bars his way — “unpurified and unconsecrated!” — and three times he is purified by water and consecrated by fire.

At the altar he takes the obligation, his hand on the white triangle; at the penalty the sword is laid on the nape of his neck. In the West the hoodwink is slipped up: he sees the sword pointed at his breast and is told that “fear is failure”. In the East, that “Unbalanced Force is evil”. Then the hoodwink is removed for good: “long hast thou dwelt in Darkness! Quit the Night, and seek the day.” A fourth consecration between the two pillars, the rope removed, and the ceremony ends with a repast in silence: a rose, a flame, bread and salt, wine.

Get the full ceremony — US$19

The Neophyte grade as printed in 1909, from end to end: the opening and the Adoration, the cord and the hoodwink, the obligation and its penalty, the four consecrations by water and fire, the Guardian of the West, the Light, the mystic repast and the Formula of Osiris. A reading dossier in PDF, emailed within 24 hours; you pay after you have received it. It confers no grade.

The text

The rituals of the Golden Dawn were first printed by a former member, Aleister Crowley, in his review The Equinox from 1909. The account of the Neophyte grade follows the order’s own manuscript and prints the questions, the answers and the penalty; it summarises the middle of the obligation with “&c. &c.”. We quote only what it prints. A transcription of the volume is at 100th Monkey Press.

This page belongs to no order and opens no door. The original order broke up in the early 1900s; several organisations use the name Golden Dawn today. None of them uses this page, and we are affiliated with none.