Israel Regardie - The Complete Golden Dawn System of Magic.pdf

THE COMPLETE GOLDEN DAWN SYSTEM OF MAGIC
Magic comprises this item or that item only. It is a vast and comprehensive system
that is worthy of considerable effort to make it an integral part of one's thinking and
feeling.
Finally of course there is the method of the tattwa vision, also called skrying in the
spirit vision. This is most important. However I feel entirely too much attention in the past
has been paid to this method at the expense of some of those just listed. There must have
been many members of the early Order who had a great talent for skrying, since it led to
the possible development of clairvoyance, etc. For this reason, its use was overdone. Not
only was this so, but some of the protective methods were neglected, and some of the
people became gullible and credulous, and lost their natural scepticism which is one of the
indispensable factors absolutely essential to the welfare of the student of magic. Without it he
is lost in a wilderness of deception and fantasy. Nothing solid can be based upon this
whatsoever. Of course there are also the divinatory methods of the Order. Geomancy and the
Tarot. But the student must not stop there. These methods appear to be devoted to divining
the future, etc., but it would be a great mistake if your interpretation were limited solely to
this. Apart from the fact that the use of these methods develop intuition and the inner
psychospiritual senses, there is a whole inner world to be explored and discovered by using
the geomantic symbols and the Tarot cards themselves as gateways to another dimension of
existence, to another aspect of ourselves of which we ordinarily have little consciousness.
And since the work of the Order is based upon self discovery as suggested by the injunction in
the Neophyte Ritual "Quit the night and seek the Day," and by the very name of the Order
itself - The Golden Dawn, a symbolic representation of the spiritual experience which is the
goal of all our work, it is the attainment of the awareness of divinity, and then bringing this
divinity to operate in our daily lives in this world of Malkuth which is the outer garment of
God. I still like the old Qabalistic aphorism that Kether is in Malkuth, and Malkuth is in
Kether but after another manner. This is not unrelated to the Mahayana aphorism that
Nirvana is Samsara and Samsara is Nirvana.
Nor must I forget to call attention to something that is all too often neglected.
Meditation on the significance and meaning of the magical instruments. They are often
made and consecrated by members of the Order and used as always recommended, but
rarely do they come to terms with what underlies their common usage. It should be obvious to
any long term student that the Lotus Wand for example is a symbol, amongst others, of the
spinal column with the Lotus at the top of the head - a channel for the movement of the spinal
spirit fire, the Kundalini. (In this connection do make an effort to obtain and read a book by
a Hindu named Gopi Krishna entitled Kundalini). All the other instruments similarly have
profound meanings. In this connection, as an aid to meditation, I can strongly recommend
Aleister Crowley's magnificent early book Part Two of Book Four dealing with the theory of
Magick and its tools. There are some beautiful meditative descriptions of the elemental
weapons which the good student cannot afford to overlook or do without. Such insights will
grow as he grows, insight and intuition piling on one another until, of course, the ultimate
goal of all the work is realized -- enlightenment.
14