Theos-Talk Archives (April 2004 Message tt00097)

>Many thanks for the information. There is no discernable Blavatsy
inbfluence un her books, which are all GD stuff, so I did not see her
as a theosophist.

Steve, you may need to read a few more of her books -- as there are HPB and
Besant references. Even in one of the pre-initiatory Dedicand Papers (which
have never been published together, although some - including this one, I
think - saw print as articles in her journal) she recommends the study of
The Secret Doctrine. CWL also comes up -- but usually for condemnation, as
DF had a very dim opinion of what she thought he was doing, sexually.
(Actually, she felt his sexual activities were magical in nature, so would
feel gratified at the info revealed in the Tillett bio.)

>You are th one who did not read - my -email. I said I did not read
Stanislas de Guaita's CLEF DE LA MAGIE NOIRE, not that I did not read
PSYCHIC SELF-DEFENCE. I have Guaita's book but have not go into it
yet.

Sorry, I misread your email!

As to your long bit on the Golden Dawn tradition --

First, while there is certainly some Golden Dawn influence in DF's work, the
rituals of the SIL and its descendents are *very* different, and hardly
constitute any wholesale purloining from the GD. (If anything, DF's first
rituals included more from Co-Masonry than the GD.)

As one shall know them by their fruits..... I think you are right to wonder
about the results of the some of the GD work. In many cases, it clearly led
to inflated magical personalities, and forms of inner work driven by the
complexes of the lower self. The two really significant exceptions
(although neither is by any means devoid of personal failings), IMHO, are
Fortune and A.E. Waite.

I think both Fortune and Waite were preserved from the more potentially
negative effects of some of the GD work, and were able to re-vision it in a
different key (via the Society of the Inner Light, and the Fellowship of the
Rosy Cross, respectively) due to their mystical, devotional natures. Both
DF and Waite fully acknowledged that, in spiritual work, it is a matter of
"Thy will be done" *not* "My will be done."

Actually, it was as a result of seeing some of the spiritual train wrecks in
the GD which led DF to insist that psychological health (including
undertaking a course of therapy if necessary) and outer balance (in terms of
work, money, family, etc) were prerequisites for magical training.

I tend to think people get carried away with claims that this rite, or that
square or some magical alphabet is so intrinsically dangerous or powerful or
whatever. To my mind, the core of the matter --- whether sitting in Zen
meditation, or doing full-on ritual magic -- is always the underlying
spiritual intention. Almost any spiritual practice can be done out of some
kind of selfish distortion, or from an attitude of humility and service --
and for most of us, most of the time, there is some sort of mix of the two.
Hopefully, with time and inner honesty, we can let go of the former and grow
toward the latter.

All the best,
John